Length of Schengen Visa

[mirnat]

Just wondered, how long have people's Schengen Visas generally been valid for? I'm a British national and my husband (who has a 2 year UK spouse visa expiring in March 2009) has just applied through the Belgium Embassy and was given a visa but it is only valid for three weeks. This is fine for our travel plans this time but I was under the impression that a Schengen Visa would be valid for at least 3 to 6 months! If anyone has been issued a longish Schengen Visa, what Embassy did you get it from?

[Russia]

The first time a week or so, then upped to 30 days - this was a few years ago, since then 12 months ME visas everytime. Given that they have to provide it FOC it makes sense for the Embassies to provide long term visas, remind them of this next time you visit.
We have Schengen visas from most EU states, but for past few years we've used only one, the Dutch. Forget about the rules applied to country of entry - go to any Embassy, since there are NO borders or passport controls in Europe, you can say your main destination is the country at whose Embassy you apply. Think about it, if you live in England and want to travel by car to Europe the French Embassy would be deluged with applicants!
Alot of people are making alot of fuss about not being able to get appointments at certain Embassies and all they are doing is creating nervous tension for themselves - read the Schengen rules and interpret them in a pragmatic manner.