Visit to greece - Shengan visa

[zakstorm]

can anyone please help

I have booked a last minute holiday to greece, to depart 1 and a half weeks away for the duration of 2 weeks . my wife is indonesian holding ILR, and requires a shengan visa. however the grrek embassy cannot make an appointment to see us until september...around 5 weeks later.

is it possible to obtain a visa from another country embassy ie spain/france and enter on that visa to greece (from the united kingdom).bearing in mind that the visa will not have been used to travel before.

any advice is greatly appreciated, as i fear losing the total amount paid for the vacation.

[Wanderer]

can anyone please help

I have booked a last minute holiday to greece, to depart 1 and a half weeks away for the duration of 2 weeks . my wife is indonesian holding ILR, and requires a shengan visa. however the grrek embassy cannot make an appointment to see us until september...around 5 weeks later.

is it possible to obtain a visa from another country embassy ie spain/france and enter on that visa to greece (from the united kingdom).bearing in mind that the visa will not have been used to travel before.

any advice is greatly appreciated, as i fear losing the total amount paid for the vacation.

Not another one!

Search this forums, loads of others have booked without checking too....

The French embassy is the best bet, via post if you live outside London, otherwise it's the usual 15 quid phone call and long wait at the consulate.

Some points to bear in mind;

1. According to EU directives she shouldn't need a schengen visa as the spouse of a EU cit. like urself, just ID and proof of relationship. Trouble is the drones on the immigration desks and passport control don't know this. Some here have managed it, although I don't remember anyone risking Greece. Risky for me - they might not even let you on the plane, but take a print out of the directive and argue!

2. The Schengen states don't like giving out visas to schengenland and then u not going to their state and spending ur Euros. So for example the French might wont u to show some proof ur going to visit France which could be awkward in ur case.

[Dawie]

Geez, this is getting repetitive!! I'm beginning to think the search functionality is broken on this site!

Ok, here's the lowdown:

1) Never ever book your flights and accommodation without at least seeing how long it will take to get an appointment. Many Schengen countries require at least a few weeks notice for an appointment, even more during the busy summer months. Anyone who just blindly books a holiday without checking how long it will take to get a visa is a fool!

2) While you can use a multiple-entry Schengen visa from one Schengen state to enter another Schengen state, the first time you use the visa it should always be used to enter the country who issued the visa otherwise you risk being accused of "visa shopping". In other words, if you go to the French embassy and obtain a French Schengen visa, you better make sure you go to France first before using the visa to anyway else in Schengenland.

If you were to obtain a French visa and then used it to go to Greece, your wife would seriously jeopardise her chances of getting another Schengen visa from France.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Are you an EU citizen?

[zakstorm]

I am british, living in UK, my wife is indonesian, holding indefinate leave to remain in the united kingdom.

i booked a holiday to greece departing on 25 august, i didnt look in to how long it would take to obtain the shengan visa from the grrek authority. they are only able (or willing) to see me in september. When i spoke to a representative in the embasy, she was very rude, and called me stupid for booking the holiday prior to obtaining the visa (maybe she is correct!) . she was not able to offer any solution, only stating that i would have to come to the apointment in september, despite me expaining that i am due to fly on august 25.
i dont see a solution. i really do not wish to forfit my holiday (paid about £1000) however, i seem to be coming against a brick wall. i looked into the possibility of obtianing a visa for france, and going there for a day trip, however i have been informed they are only likely to issue a visa for the duration of my i intended stay , so this would not help facilitate my wife entry to greece.

what can i do? is there a way to obtain a shengan visa for an indoneisan citizen at short notice?

[Wanderer]

I am british, living in UK, my wife is indonesian, holding indefinate leave to remain in the united kingdom.

i booked a holiday to greece departing on 25 august, i didnt look in to how long it would take to obtain the shengan visa from the grrek authority. they are only able (or willing) to see me in september. When i spoke to a representative in the embasy, she was very rude, and called me stupid for booking the holiday prior to obtaining the visa (maybe she is correct!) . she was not able to offer any solution, only stating that i would have to come to the apointment in september, despite me expaining that i am due to fly on august 25.
i dont see a solution. i really do not wish to forfit my holiday (paid about £1000) however, i seem to be coming against a brick wall. i looked into the possibility of obtianing a visa for france, and going there for a day trip, however i have been informed they are only likely to issue a visa for the duration of my i intended stay , so this would not help facilitate my wife entry to greece.

what can i do? is there a way to obtain a shengan visa for an indoneisan citizen at short notice?

If I was you I'd print out the EU directive about permit-free travel for spouses (search these fora) in English and Greek and argue the point at the airport that she's allowed to go with you without a formal visa. Like I said, this directive is not in the forefront of the minds of the simpletons on passport control etc, so u might piss them off, but what have you got to lose?

France was ur best bet - albeit at the risk of buggering up another Shengen visa, whatever you do don't bother with the Spanish Consulate, read here....

The Finnish embassy is supposed to be accomodating for russian's as my gf is, and dont seem to bothered about u not going there, might be worth a spin but again - it's time, they'll all booked up and doing quite nicely with their 10 minute 0906 numbers costing 15 quid and not actually issuing any visas...

[Shan12]

Do your day trip to France and book a hotel for six months in advance... use novotel or something like that. Present both lots of documentation when you apply. They will give you an extended visa with multiple entry. I manageded to get an extended visa doing this.

[zakstorm]

just an update...

after numerous phone calls to the greek embassy (thankfully at the regular rate line) 2 faxes and a shirty letter advising them of there obligation to facilitate the entry of a non eu spouse, we were able to get an appointment to see someone. they still did not guarentee the visa would be issued in time to travel, but advised us to go back to the embassy the day before our departure. thnkfully the visa was ready...so a happy ending( after a fair amount of stress and unwillingness on the behalf of the greek...NO customer service at all!)

thanks to anyone who gave advice.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Even better, thanks for letting us know how it went. Nice to see that a little pressure can make them wake up and move.

[JAJ]

I am british, living in UK, my wife is indonesian, holding indefinate leave to remain in the united kingdom.

Has your wife thought about swapping her Indonesian passport for a British one?

[kavanspace]

Hi mate,

I am in same situation...I am indian and my wife polish.

i have booked my hols flying on 8th june sunday.

got appointment on 30th May friday. only a week.

I can't even find application form to fill on greek embaasy website...

please help please help.....its become a PIA.

[AxeZ]

2) While you can use a multiple-entry Schengen visa from one Schengen state to enter another Schengen state, the first time you use the visa it should always be used to enter the country who issued the visa otherwise you risk being accused of "visa shopping". In other words, if you go to the French embassy and obtain a French Schengen visa, you better make sure you go to France first before using the visa to anyway else in Schengenland.

If you were to obtain a French visa and then used it to go to Greece, your wife would seriously jeopardise her chances of getting another Schengen visa from France.

This is little awkward, isn't it.
If free movement is guaranteed for spouses of EU citizens, how can EU country deny visa for husband or wife of an EU citizen even if they haven't gone first in the country issuing visa?
For instance, I am EU citizen ( czech ), my wife is not and we are not living in the EU country.

What is best option for us to get multiple entry schengen visa for one year? To go to my country of origin embassy for a visa, which is Czech republic, although we won't be going there soon or to go to embassy of the country we will be visiting first, which are Italy or Spain.

Common sense is telling me that It should be easier for us to go to Czech embassy for multiple reasons.

Any thoughts of that?