[meetarin]

Blame it on the countless Bollywood and Hollywood movies set in the beautiful backdrops of Europe, which we grew up watching, embarking on a solo journey across Europe is a dream many of us hold close to our hearts. Unfortunately, many of those thoughts die a nascent tragic death because of the sheer number of prerequisites needed to execute the same. We Indians are not yet there with our luck to enter the European countries at ease, given our passport strength. I would be lying if I deny that navigating the bureaucratic maze of Schengen Visa applications is nothing short of a daunting task. However, the King said, “agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho, toh poori kayenat use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai”. With that faith, I started to stitch together my dream of wandering solo in Europe. One and a half months of meticulous planning later, there it was – my first Schengen Visa, the gateway to my European dream last autumn.

I know, hundreds of posts and videos have been made in the past on this topic and there is literally no dearth of resources, but the purpose of writing this piece is to make the process as detailed and simplified as possible, so that it makes you have all the information in one place and are confident in navigating the maze. While some aspects of this write-up are specifically meant to prepare the solo travelers, it’s a no-brainer that the process remains same for everyone alike.

With no further ado, allow me to share the details of the planning stage.

Planning your first Europe Trip

The first step in the Visa process is inevitably the planning process. The Schengen Area encompasses 26 European countries and you first need to decide which countries do you fancy visiting. In my experience, it helps if you have a clear idea of the number of days of your travel, the number of countries you want to visit and the approximate budget you want to allocate to your travel. A simple rule of thumb is – you apply to the Embassy of the country where you spend the maximum days in, or to the first country of visit. In case, the number of days is equal in each country, the first point of entry is going to be the Embassy for your Visa application.

Quick Facts
• Number of travel days: 18
• Number of countries visited: 4
• Entry and exit point: Vienna, Austria
• Visa type: Multiple Entry
• Appointment waiting time: 2 days
• Time to Grant Visa: 18 days

I was clear in my mind that I wanted my Europe sojourn with a flavor of history and charm, and thus planned to include Austria, Czechia, Poland primarily in my itinerary. I added Slovakia to the itinerary as well, because why not? The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, is extremely close to Vienna. Though a lot of people don’t visit the place, I wanted to check it out. Originally, I also included Hungary in the plan but dropped it later, because I didn’t want to rush through the places. A quick check of the flight prices revealed that the round-trip fare between Kolkata and Vienna is the cheapest compared to Prague / Krakow / Budapest. So, I decided to make Vienna as my entry point, and subsequently apply for the Visa through the Austrian Embassy.

And thus started the hustling to gather and organize tons of documents, which are prerequisites to the Visa application.

Itinerary
The first step in the process was to build a detailed itinerary through extensive research. While it is not necessary to follow the Visa itinerary during your actual trip, it helps to have a detailed itinerary for many reasons – 1) you exactly know when to go where (this is extremely important for me, I always plan meticulously and try to avoid the unknown during my travel), 2) you are prepared in the case of an unlikely interview call from the embassy.
I had prepared a detailed day-wise itinerary which included my activities for the day, the mode of commute (intra/inter-city) and the place of stay. For simplicity, I mentioned my destinations as Austria and Hungary only, thus needing fewer documents to support. [sample itinerary attached]

Employment Documents
The Schengen Visa also requires you to submit a set of employment documents which includes

• Appointment letter from your current employer,
• Pay slips of last 3-6 months (depending on the Embassy) and
• The Leave NOC.

All of these documents are pretty easy to procure, especially if the processes are structured in your organization. Otherwise, it would be prudent to speak to your HR as soon as you have a tentative plan ready with the dates.

Proof of Funds
Next in line is the proof of funds, and the process requires you to provide the bank statement of last 3-6 months (depending on the embassy). Although Austrian Embassy requires bank statement of 3 months, I had provided details for 6 months for my salary account. In my opinion, showing the salary account statement gives credibility of continuous source of income.

The Income Tax Return (ITR) of last 3 years are also required, which again should be fairly easy to procure. I have been asked by multiple people what they should do if their income isn’t taxable or their companies don’t provide Form 16. My opinion and advice are – ALWAYS file your tax returns, so that you have your ITR generated. It’s not necessary to be in the taxable bracket to file an ITR or even to have a Form 16 (you can populate the details manually while filing ITR). It feels good to be a tax abiding citizen!

Travel Reservations
It is mandatory for you to show your reservations for your travel to/within Europe. I will break this into three parts:

1. Flight reservations: Flight reservations can be procured through certain websites for a nominal fee, and the same can be provided as details in the Visa application. However, these reservations are only valid for 14 days (in most cases), so I’d recommend that you get this done, closer to your appointment date. You can also book a full fared flight ticket, though this comes with the risk of losing money in the event that your Visa application is rejected. Since I was applying for the first time, I risked a full fared ticket, which had a cancellation fee of 12000 INR.
2. Reservations for travel within Europe: You could provide proof for flights, trains or buses for this part. I had booked refundable Flixbus tickets to show as proofs. In the case of cancellation, you get Flixbus vouchers valid for one year.
3. Hotel accommodation: The easiest part! Just head to Booking.com or Agoda.com and book accommodations with free cancellations. Hostels, hotels, AirBnBs – anything works.

Travel Insurance
A travel insurance with a minimum coverage of 30000 Euros is required for a Schengen Visa. Again, this is pretty straight-forward and you can buy one from any of the leading insurance providers. There is a mere difference of few hundred rupees between each, the inclusions are mentioned for the policy type, so choose one which has more features you wish (e.g. Loss of baggage, delayed flights, etc.)

Additional Documents
You can include additional bank statements or even stock holding statement as additional documents. I had included a bank statement of another savings account and my stock holding statement for this part. At times, the VFS Official might return these to you saying it is not required, but they keep it if you insist. Happened to me and I was able to keep it for the application.

Cover Letter
Probably the most important of all documents and how a cover letter is written dictates the chance of getting an approved Visa, if you were to ask me! There are loads of templates on the internet, but I would suggest you customize it to include all the necessary information. I created one, intended to give clear information about my travel to the Visa officer. [sample attached]

Visa Application and Appointment
The last leg of the process is to fill in the Visa application. It’s important to fill the application with 100% accuracy, so check the details repeatedly and ensure that the details match with your other documents as well as the cover letter.
Now that you have all the documents handy and sorted, all you need to do is go to the VFS Website and take an appointment on a date that is convenient (and available!) for you. A lot of embassies have long waiting period, so I would suggest you keep a check on the availability throughout the planning phase.
PS - It goes without saying that your photo and passport are also required as a part of the application process. The photo specifications are available on the VFS website, but walk into any good studio – they would know!

On the day of your appointment
The process at the VFS site is quite smooth and streamlined in my experience for Kolkata location. You get a token at entry and follow the display board for your token and counter number. It’s a three-step process while at VFS – 1) submit documents, 2) pay Visa Fees, 3) submit biometric (for some embassies, they click your photo as well, not for Austria). The VFS people do try to sell value added services to you, but I guess they are of no “value”.

In my experience, budgeting half a day is good enough, and morning slots work better.

The Long Wait and the unexpected interview
With the application now submitted, the excruciating wait begins! There is no specified timeline within which a Visa is approved and hugely varies by embassy. We can’t do much about this stage, except for reading the occasional SMS which provides updates on the application stage.

During this stage, it is also possible to receive an interview call from the embassy. Was a sleepy monsoon afternoon when I was getting a call from a generic New Delhi number. I was on the verge of declining it but received, only to find out it was a call from the Austrian Embassy. After confirming that she was indeed speaking to the applicant (DOB verification), the lady proceeded with the (stress interview). I am listing the questions I was asked:

1. Designation and company name. Tenure of service
2. Whether it’s the first time in a Schengen area?
3. If anyone is accompanying me in the trip?
4. Purpose of travel
5. How will I fund my travel?
6. Why Austria out of all countries?
7. Which cities do I plan to visit?
8. Names of some tourist places in Vienna
9. If I have friends or family living in any Schengen country

10 minutes into the conversation, the lady asked for my HR details. I explained to her that I work for an MNC where the HR handles a considerable headcount and wouldn’t know be personally. She then asked for my manager’s email, which I provided. My manager got an email from the Embassy the next day and responded immediately. The day after, I got a message that my Visa application has been dispatched to Kolkata VFS.

A couple of days later, I received a call from Kolkata VFS asking me to collect the passport. With bated breath, I opened the envelope, and saw my first Schengen Visa sticker on my passport!

Busting the myths
There are many preconceived notions that goes around when it comes to a Schengen Visa. I will try to address some of those here:

1. It’s better to go through an agent – No, it’s not! I don’t wish to offend anyone but I feel, the process is quite simple and intuitive and anyone with basic education can create a successful application. I did get in touch with agents – the first one said my chances are slim since I am traveling solo, the second one helped me get the appointment and write a horrible cover letter. I had to redo everything on my own.

2. You won’t get a Visa if you travel solo – Nothing like that! Everything depends on your application. Be convincing and detailed. The Visa officer is not seeing your face, so let the documents and words speak for you.

3. You need a long travel history to get a Schengen Visa – I don’t think so! I just had two business travels before – one to APAC and another to Middle East. Again, everything depends on your application.

4. You need to show a high bank balance – Probably not! The guideline that is in place (for some countries) dictates a minimal subsistence amount to the tune of 100-120 euros per day of travel. But there is no requirement to maintain a specific bank balance. I know people who had loads of money in their account and got rejected, and vice versa. I for one, showed only few lacs in the two bank accounts combined, so clearly this isn’t a deciding factor.

That’s all the gyan I had to share from my Schengen Visa experience. Unfortunately, penning this down took me 5 months. I definitely plan to share my travelogue, when I pick up my pen keyboard again!

Thanks for reading.

Video Link:

https://youtu.be/gjM41WI02S4

[antony5279]

Congratulations! Never knew it was tough to get a Schengen visa.

Yes, skip the agent. I needed long stay Schengen visa and I thought agents were the way to go but none of them could help.

That was at a time when I was unemployed. Filled out my own form, (no proof of stay/ you are supposed to have a lease agreement) and I was granted long stay visa - twice.

Probably France is the best country to apply.

[Sangwan]

Originally Posted by meetarin

1. It’s better to go through an agent – No, it’s not! I don’t wish to offend anyone but I feel, the process is quite simple and intuitive and anyone with basic education can create a successful application. I did get in touch with agents – the first one said my chances are slim since I am traveling solo, the second one helped me get the appointment and write a horrible cover letter. I had to redo everything on my own.

Thank you so much for the informative post. And I totally agree with this comment. Nobody should spend their hard earned money on agents, most of them don’t know anything and are making tons of money because of our ignorance. Glad you did everything on you on, I too try to do as much as I can by myself.

[charanreddy]

Just one addition to this very detailed post. The time to get your visa and also how strict or otherwise the dates are depends on the country you are visiting. Schengen visas are notorious for giving very tight dates. I.e. if you apply for 10 days, they will give you the visa for the exact 10 days unlike UK or US. Insome cases they have fewer days vs what was requested. Very recently a colleague wanted to go on a business trip to Germany and the waiting period vs 3 months unlike a few days for Switzerland or France. UK visa takes only 7 days for the entire process for comparison.

[rijo_tj]

Just to add my 2 cents based on my experience of applying for a Schengen Visa for me and my family last August for a 15 day trip.

As the OP mentioned, the covering letter matters a lot. How you frame it with your itinerary, your professional / business details, your proof of funds helps a lot. The visa officer while reading the covering letter should get a clear idea and your letter should not leave any chance of a doubt being created in the Visa Officer's mind.


Also more than the proof of funds, what matters even more ( In this day and age) is solid proof that you do indeed intend to come back to your home country after your purpose of visit. Whatever proof you can show to substantiate this particular fact, collect it and keep it along with your visa application. That is one way of almost guaranteeing your visa acceptance.

[ghtg1]

I would say it would be pragmatically incorrect to consider OP's sole experience sufficient enough to bust myths. Agents do offer a lot of convenience and guidance if you know the right ones. Everyone charges for their experience so that's a subjective part. He got in touch with 2 agents so they do offer some assistance.

Solo travel visa issuance hiccups- it's not a myth, lot depends on your family tree, surname, financial background, past travel history, Visa officers past experience with similar profiles etc. I have seen so many cases where it didn't worked out and heck there are just so many variables out their, it would be hard to call it a myth. All they need to assess is person will travel back to home country and if they have slightest of doubt they will reject it. Screening is lenient now a days and that's one reason France detained a flight few months back having passengers from our country who wanted migrate illegally, mostly solo travelers.

Bank balance part - if they are satisfied that we have plenty of asset to return back, bank balance doesn't matter much but otherwise it does.

[Samfromindia]

Amazing guide! This will surely come handy to me within few years time as I plan on doing the same Waiting for your solo TL.

Hope you attended Kolkata meets.

[poloman]

One has to understand that Schengen visa is kind of hit or miss now a days. I had provided a equally good if not better documentation for a German Schengen visa last year and was rejected outright.

Extremely detailed itinerary, proof of income, proof of leave, real travel and hotel reservations, Every thing they asked was provided. I am working in one of well known US based MNCs in the world. I had good history of multiple travels to North America and other countries. But still the visa application was rejected. No call was given, no interview either.
This was a family visa. Some how they felt I was planning to migrate to their country leaving my cushy job and life here.

So the greatest myth I believe is that, you will get Schengen visa if your documentation is perfect and you are well off here. No one really knows how they approve or disapprove cases.

[meetarin]

Originally Posted by antony5279

Congratulations! Never knew it was tough to get a Schengen visa.

Thank you! I think it's about finding the right agent. I went through my employer agent as well, but he couldnt help either. So I figured I will do it on my own. And yes, I heard France processes the applications very quick!

Originally Posted by Sangwan

Thank you so much for the informative post. And I totally agree with this comment.

Glad you liked the information Sangwan!

Originally Posted by charanreddy

Just one addition to this very detailed post.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention this aspect. You are spot on there.

Originally Posted by ghtg1

I would say it would be pragmatically incorrect to consider OP's sole experience sufficient enough to bust myths.

I totally agree with your view. There are many variables, and the rejection reasons dont capture it at all. The myths are purely my point of view and there are many more probably, something which we will never be able to decipher ever.

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

Amazing guide ! This will surely come handy to me within few years time as I plan on doing the same Waiting for your solo TL.
Hope you attended Kolkata meets and a part of our active WA group.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by poloman

So the greatest myth I believe is that, you will get Schengen visa if your documentation is perfect and you are well off here. No one really knows how they approve or disapprove cases.

I agree, a lot depends on how the Visa Officer is feeling mentally at that point

[NiInJa]

Adding some helpful information as I did a Sweden trip in 2022 and a failed application to get Spanish Schengen this just last week

This is especially for people travelling with family/kids or elderly:

To avoid last minute hassles, make sure that each applicant has a separate file with individual documents as they cannot be shared across applications. For example, if there are three applicants (wife, husband and a kid), make sure the air tickets are printed thrice. As a thumb rule, just print everything thrice.

- Make a table of your itinerary, either in Excel or on a notebook and keep it handy. Some consulates like Spain ask this. It just has to be approximate.
Also, frequent travelers should maintain a running list of countries visited with exact date of stamping at arrival and departure. Helps in applying work visas.

- Letter of invitation from host (in our case, it was a friend of my wife where we were going to stay in Sweden): Again, make sure each one has its own copy. Even a kid (dependent) needs his own copy.

- Office HR Letter, Salary Slips: The usual stuff. Just make sure it is latest. They need an assurance that you will not do any business there and will be back in your home location to do your job.

- Hotel Bookings: Again, each one has own copy. Sort it according to the dates of entry, stay and exit if possible. It reduces time. (Some countries like Germany don't need bookings to be uploaded to get an appointment date, but some countries need bookings done in order to get an appointment date.)

- Evidence of relation/friend inviting you: Happened to us as we were going to a friend's place. They asked if we had a photo showing proof that the friend was 'close', had to print it from Facebook and attached in the application. Make sure the letter has names of all travelers explicitly mentioned. I had to wake my wife's friend early, get it rewritten and signed and send scanned copy at visa office as it did not mention my name or my kid's name.

- Friend's/Relatives' Documents: Residential address, Work letter, Residence permit doc (Passport or work visa or Biometric Residence Card/permit). Important to be attached to all applicants separately.

- Payment Evidence: In case of some countries, they will ask for evidence of payment of air tickets and hotel, we took bank statements showing it, bank statements were needed anyway.

- Bank Balance: Refer to the minimum amount required based on your stay. Make sure it is there in the account for some time. A friend of mine was asked why the balance shot up just two days before application. Not something that is written in stone, but it all depends on how your luck is.

- Kids/Dependents Consent letter: If kid and both parents are travelling together, air ticket showing same flights will do. But, if not travelling together, a consent letter can be asked from the parent who is not travelling with the kid. This can be a problem with spouses who are not legally separated yet and are not on talking terms due to some reason. Documents like Divorce Decree etc can also be asked if applicable.

- Birth Certificate/ Marriage certificate: Some countries have a mandate of language, for example, Spain has strict requirement stating certificates' original copy should have english as well. If original certificate is in some other language, make sure to get it converted or have legal translation done. Same for name changes or marriage certificates if names on passport are different from that on marriage certificate.

- Spain Consulate can also throw up some unwanted tantrum of getting school's permission of leave if the vacation is considerably big. We took school's permission letter for Sweden too but was never asked. You can convince them during the meeting that it is not necessary or needed.

- Photos: Some schengen countries have it taken at the application center, some need it printed beforehand, 2 copies mostly. Better to check that beforehand. If photos are needed beforehand, make sure face details are not obscured, Spain is especially strict with kid's photos. Hair on the forehead, ears not visible and all those 'schengenigans'

- Elderly people who might not be well versed with English: Make sure they know the name of the destination, address of stay and host's name and contact number well and are able to pronounce it properly. It is not usually a problem at the time of application, but when landed and asked at immigration, some officers might have a problem understanding our accent.

Lastly, I never felt the need of an agent, but some elders might need it as these applications need to be well structured and documented. Many of these application centers now have premium service available. If opted, things become a bit easy and there is a marked improvement in how they interact with you. I have experienced this personally with Pune VFS office. If applying with small kids or elderly people, it is better to opt for it. The people help you with photocopies, photos or any last minute surprises (facebook photo evidence and letter of invitation hassle in my case). They also give complimentary preloaded SIMs or travel insurance.

[NiInJa]

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Sure, sharing the experience to help others is not a bad idea but considering this an achievement? I agree with post which calls the tone demeaning of the thread.

How did I miss this judgemental post?
Anyway, I've seen visa applications (applied with honest intentions) in my close circles getting rejected: A widowed Grandma missing out first birthday of her grand-daughter in Greece (general opinion that it is rejected on the suspicion that elders can take advantage of their seemingly better healthcare services), A legally non-separated man not able to make it to Europe alone in first attempt. A young smart, intelligent girl in our office denied U.S. B1 Visa for reasons we guessed might be possibly because 'she will get married to a US guy and get citizenship', heck, even my parents were not able to 'crack' the U.K. visa when my brother went there in 2015, and they wanted to visit their grandchild in winters. . My Spanish visa got application got rejected recently as in the kid's birth certificate, my name and my wife's name is written in devanagri script, an error that was not caught when applying B1/B2 US visa or even Swedish Schengen visa and U.K. Work visa that we currently have. Had to cancel my bookings and kill the excitement we had for one stupid but valid reason. So yes, for some, it might be an achievement, for others it can be a learning, for some others it might just be a usual thing. Let's not deny the emotions associated with traveling to another country for whatever reason.

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

And seriously, we can have better quality threads on Homepage. There are tons of blogs elsewhere on the net on the topic.

The OP mentions it too. No harm in penning down experiences in whatever way one likes. Let the moderators decide the quality aspect of it. And seriously, the statement quoted has a condescending tone to it.

[poloman]

1. It’s better to go through an agent – No, it’s not! I don’t wish to offend anyone but I feel, the process is quite simple and intuitive and anyone with basic education can create a successful application

If you have elderly parents travelling with you, high chances of your visa getting rejected. They treat this as high risk for migration since entire family is travelling. But they may state different reason for rejection. So if your parents are coming, better go through tour packages.

Schengen visa application process can be extremely stressful. You won't know the status of visa even days or hours before your travel. No embassies have proper customer service desk. So no way to know the visa status till you get the intimation.
Also be prepared to lose good sum of money in case of rejections. They don't give visa with out actual travel and hotel bookings. But some of these will have heavy cancellation charges in case of rejection. I lost around 2L for this nonsense.

You can't blame these countries, the acts of some of our countrymen is behind this suspicion. They are even willing to join battlefronts in Russia for a passage to Europe.

[androdev]

The most important criteria, IMO, is your financial status which includes your job (or business), income/salary, bank statement and IT returns, etc. A combination of these should convince the embassy staff that you are well settled here, you can comfortably afford the travel & stay expenses, etc. Of course, if you have prior travel history, it would further strengthen your case. There might be other factors at play such as your family members living in EU.

The rest of the stuff is just basic task of putting together your application properly. Research and thoroughness of your application, IMO, don't make much difference if your finances are not convincing enough.

Schengen visa validity periods are notoriously restrictive. Don't opt for flight and hotel bookings without taking cancellation/refund into account. A travel agent of good reputation can help you with this - block tickets and accommodation to satisfy the visa application without actually buying or offer more cancellation friendly options.

[pepega]

Have been through this experience a couple of times. I remember carrying a briefcase with about 16 documents, around a 100 printed pages, all sorted and aligned and properly stapled. The fact that you have to carry everything along with your person and get a picture clicked there, as if the picture you attached with your application is worth nothing, adds insult to injury. After all that, I got a call from the relevant embassy asking me if I was planning to immigrate to Europe. I politely declined but it seemed like it was gonna take a lot of convincing to get them to believe me. I gave up trying to convince them but I got a visa regardless.

The second time around I didn't get a call for a visa interview from the embassy. Drop-off passport and pickup in two weeks. I guess leaving Europe once is enough proof for them that you're not trying to immigrate.

There won't be a third time, at least for tourism. I'd rather visit countries that are more friendly, tourist-visa wise. Not worth the hassle IMO.

[rijo_tj]

For many a middle class family, a trip to Europe with your loved ones and family is probably once in a life time trip.

If you are someone who goes through a lot of blogs and posts regarding Schengen visa rejection and associated scary stories, getting a visa would in most cases feel like an achievement.

For me when I applied for Schengen visa last Oct for me and my family, there was a sense of elation, the moment I cut open the sealed courier cover which had my passport and looked inside to find the stamp of visa.