French Visa can I traval to other place in EU

[walidukdz]

Hello I am living in the UK and have Residence card spouse of an eea member.I recently wanted to travel alone as my wife couldn't take holiday for a week.so i applied for french shengen visa at Tlscontact .however I m thinking now to go to spain instead. Can I travel to spain straight for london with this visa or do I have to enter French Territory first.adding the visa is Shengen ?

[pgaitonde]

Hello I am living in the UK and have Residence card spouse of an eea member.I recently wanted to travel alone as my wife couldn't take holiday for a week.so i applied for french shengen visa at Tlscontact .however I m thinking now to go to spain instead. Can I travel to spain straight for london with this visa or do I have to enter French Territory first.adding the visa is Shengen ?

With Schegen visa u can travel anywhere in the EU region.

[walidukdz]

Yeah that what I thought but then people say you have to enter via the contry you applied first.Is that true ?or just a myth

[QuickSam]

**This topic is for Tier 1 discussion and not Shengen visas so please post this in the relevant section.

[hussainkothari]

Your point of entry into EU has to be France for your first trip. You cannot travel directly to Spain.

That's not correct. I have travelled to Swiss first with a visa issued by a Belgium embassy. You can travel where ever you want in the EU and enter thru any port.

[pgaitonde]

Your point of entry into EU has to be France for your first trip. You cannot travel directly to Spain.

That's not correct. I have travelled to Swiss first with a visa issued by a Belgium embassy. You can travel where ever you want in the EU and enter thru any port.

In 2010 i traveled to Belgium with the visa issued by the French embassy

[cs95tdg]

This question should be posted in the EU Immigration Forum. If possible please move.

The following may be of use to determine which Country Consulate you should get your Schengen Visa from.

http://www.immihelp.com/visas/schengenv ... ation.html

There are several rules, most appear to be stated in the above site.

Note from personal experience when applying for a Schengen visa I was advised by several European consulates to apply for the visa from the port of entry Country Consulate or from the Consulate of the Country you intend to spend the most amount of time in.

I think this question is raised when you apply for the visa, i.e. if you say you are visiting a different country then they will ask you to apply for the visa from that Consulate. But as you already have a visa technically you shouldn't have a problem when travelling to any of the Schengen states.

[eldane]

I think we can hardly flog the horse anymore on this subject

Set's see....
In the highway code it says when the red light is lit on a light signal you must stop before the white line painted across the road.

However, if you dare you can advance and cross the junction if have the guts and do not fear for your life.

It might go well and you will not be hurt but it might sway the other way and you get caught by the police and get fined - yes, you may even have an accident; that be a fatal one or just damaged body work on your vehicle.

Same goes for a Schengen visa. There are rules http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 058:EN:PDF

Member State competent for examining and deciding on an application
1. The Member State competent for examining and deciding on an application for a uniform visa shall be:
(a) the Member State whose territory constitutes the sole destination of the visit(s);
(b) if the visit includes more than one destination, the Member State whose territory constitutes the main destination of the visit(s) in terms of the length or purpose of stay; or
(c) if no main destination can be determined, the Member State whose external border the applicant intends to cross in order to enter the territory of the Member States.

So, what will happen if one should be caught out? God knows.....
Sent back to where you came from with a annulled visa, told off by the boarder guard any guess is valid here.

[cs95tdg]

Something to bear in mind... check the type of Schengen visa that has been issued... there are different types, some that only allow entry into a single Schengen State and another which allows entry into all Schengen States (Etats Schengen).

http://www.euro-dollar-currency.com/etats_schengen.htm

Anyhow if in doubt, what I would do is call the Consulate of the Country you intend to enter to verify before you decide.

[varghesejim]

Hello I am living in the UK and have Residence card spouse of an eea member.I recently wanted to travel alone as my wife couldn't take holiday for a week.so i applied for french shengen visa at Tlscontact .however I m thinking now to go to spain instead. Can I travel to spain straight for london with this visa or do I have to enter French Territory first.adding the visa is Shengen ?

The rules for the schengen visa for france clearly states that you can apply for it only if your main destination of the travel plan is france. Going to another country after getting a visa from france is playing the system. It is your call. If you want to do visit another country nobody will stop you from entering any country in the schengen region with a valid visa(as of my knowledge). There are many people who are doing this.

The consequence-I know only the situation when you are applying from UK. Initially they try to give you 6 months of visa even if you apply for or a couple of days.The second time they will most probably give you 1 year visa. However when you apply for the second time and they found that you breached the terms, they will only issue enough days for your travel plan.

[walidukdz]

Thanks for help .well just to say that my plan first was to travel to Paris I even bought the Eurostar ticket which unfortunately is non refundable and not gonna be used . However just to make sure this is my third Shengen visa on the passport .first one was to Hungary .the consul issued it in 3 days .went to Hungary and to Norway with the same visa.the second was France shangen.travelled there and to Spain without any problem . This one however I'm heading straight to Spain as my travel plan has changed because of some shit friend who lives in Paris and changed his mind about holiday .anyway hopefully it will be fine and in order not to have trouble with te French consulate .i will travel there next time just to make them happy.

[walidukdz]

Can I use my Schengen visa, issued by the French Consulate, to travel to Spain?
A Schengen visa allows its holder to travel freely within the Schengen Area, so travel to Spain or any other Schengen country directly from France is possible. If you hold a multiple entry Schengen visa, you may also enter and leave the Schengen Area through any member country within the period of your visa's validity. However, please note that you should always apply at the consulate of your main destination, so ensure you do travel to France with the Schengen visa the Consulate-General of France has issued you.

an answer to my question for other who may read this forum .I am travelling to barcelona which is close to france .If they ask me why spain .I ll say I am driving to south France which is my main destination.
thanks all[/quote]