Netherlands Schengen Information (for those outside London)

[jjustyy]

Just for information purposes for those who want a Schengen and live outside London. My Wife (I'm British, she's Mauritian) did the following:

a) Visited the Netherlands Consulate in Birmingham - 8th September. This took all of 10 minutes to do. They do charge £9 to send the application on to London or £13.50 to send it on and send it back to you special delivery. However, this avoids using the £1 a minute booking line London has and you can normally visit the consulate next day.

b) Received today - 14th September - My wife and I are only visiting for one day so asked for a single entry visa for 8 days to be sure. They were obviously clued up (for EU Spouse rights) as they issued a multiple entry visa for 6 months validity and 90 days duration!

So if you live outside London, don't even bother ringing the £1 a minute line, contact your local consulate on their standard local/national rate number. These can be found here:

http://www.mfa.nl/lon-en/consular_affairs/netherlands

I hope this helps anyone thinking of visiting the Netherlands from the UK (not just EU spouses).