applying for schengen visa while other is still active

[carobentley]

Hi! I am wondering if any of you could help me with with this. I have a Schengen visa issued by one country. It is due to expire in the middle of december. However, I need another Schengen visa to travel for christmas. Can I apply for this second visa (through another consulate) while the first one is still valid? Given the timing, i would only have a very small window of time if I need to wait for the first one to expire before lodging an application for the second one.

I have found conflicting information whereby some say you cannot have an active visa before applying for another one -that it must be canceled by the issuing consulate before the second one can be applied for- and I have also heard that it is all right to apply for the next visa while the first is still valid as long as it is within 2 months of your intended dates of travel.

Can someone enlighten me? Thanks!!!

CB

[Prawo]

What is you nationality? And your partners?

Normally a Schengenvisa is valid for 90 days and a new one will only be issued if you stay away for 3 months, as you can stay only 90 days in a period of 6 months.

[carobentley]

i'm taiwanese... no legally bound partner...

the visa was issued for 90 days, which is fine, although i only needed it for 5. It's just very unfortunate that they didn't issue it for longer and that I need a visa 9 days after this one expires. There are entry and exit stamps on it and it's clear that i have not/will not be in schengen territory for 90 days... far from that. It would be my 5th schengen application, so i do have a clean track record of not overstaying, but don't know the legalities of it.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

thanks!

cb

[Dawie]

You cannot hold more than one valid Schengen visa simultaneously. If you require another one before the current one expires, you have to approach the embassy that issued it and have it cancelled before a new one will be issued.

D'em be da rules.

Normally a Schengenvisa is valid for 90 days and a new one will only be issued if you stay away for 3 months, as you can stay only 90 days in a period of 6 months.

While it is true that you cannot spend more than 90 days in any 6 month period in the Schengen area, that does not mean that a visa issued with a validity of 90 days counts towards the 90 days limit. The 90 days are total ACTUAL days spent inside the Schengen area, not days that the visa was valid for.

There is nothing stopping you from applying for another Schengen visa as soon as your old one has expired as long as you have not spent more than 90 days out of the last 6 months in the Schengen space.

Holding a visa valid for 90 days is not the same as being in the Schengen space for 90 days.

[flyboy]

Can only speak about the french consulate in Geneva, which has no problem issuing another schengen visa without cancelling the active one when applying through them, issuing it with a valid from date a day after the expiration of the active schengen visa which is about to expire. Not sure if it would work if the current schengen visa is issued by the spanish for example and then trying to apply for another one through the french whilst the spanish one is still valid.