waiting time for Schengen visa in french embassy?

[jerad]

hi, i have ILE visa for on my sri lankan passport and being resident in uk for 4 years and i want to apply schengen visa to travel to belgium first then to other countries...
i have been to belgium twice with schengen visa..
first i applied to french embassy and got the visa on the same day....
for the second trip i applied at belgium embassy, where they said i have to wait for 3 days minimum, and i got the visa 3 days later...

the question is does French embassy in London process schengen application in one day as before? or is it going to take more than 3 days?

i live far in far from London, so i am thinking if i can get appoinment and visa on the same day, i would be able to travel on next day?

[stmellon]

Accroding to their website, the minimum waiting time is the day of application, but I would be highly skeptical of making travel arrangements for the day after the visa appointment.

[Christophe]

According to the website of the French embassy, for a Sri Lankan citizen living in the UK:

On account of your nationality, the minimum delay to obtain the visa will be of: the day of your application. Allow a few hours for the processing of your application. Your visa application may be lodged by a representative.

Not sure how much that helps because you have no doubt already read it and it is a bit vague ("a few hours"), and it is also in somewhat approximate English. However, the gist is obviously that you can expect to get the passport with the visa in it back on the same day but that they don't guarantee it.

Would you consider getting an agent to get the visa for you? Yes, you'd have to pay them, but then you'd have to pay to get to and from London. And they, not you, would stand in the queues. Not all the Schengen countries will allow this, though it seems that France will.

However, if you get a Schengen visa from France then France should really be the main destination country (or if no main destination, the country where you will be entering the Schengen area). What is your proposed itinerary like?

[stmellon]

Would you consider getting an agent to get the visa for you? Yes, you'd have to pay them, but then you'd have to pay to get to and from London. And they, not you, would stand in the queues. Not all the Schengen countries will allow this, though it seems that France will.?

Really?

Dishonest practices:
Booking an appointment is free of charge on our website. The French Consulate does not work with companies that charge visa nationals for this service. We therefore reserve the right of cancelling those appointments.

[Christophe]

OK, well there seems to be a discrepancy there: the left hand obviously doesn't know what the right hand is doing... I agree, though, in that case it's probably best to stick to a personal visit. (Although in the past they used to accept agent-lodged applications, because people here have talked about it.)

[3crown]

Apologies for jumping in 'Christophe'- will we need to take proof of travel, accommodation, tickets etc to the French embassy when applying? seems bit pointless if they could refuse Schengen? (Hubby on Spouse Visa until May 2010)

According to the website of the French embassy, for a Sri Lankan citizen living in the UK:

On account of your nationality, the minimum delay to obtain the visa will be of: the day of your application. Allow a few hours for the processing of your application. Your visa application may be lodged by a representative.

Not sure how much that helps because you have no doubt already read it and it is a bit vague ("a few hours"), and it is also in somewhat approximate English. However, the gist is obviously that you can expect to get the passport with the visa in it back on the same day but that they don't guarantee it.

Would you consider getting an agent to get the visa for you? Yes, you'd have to pay them, but then you'd have to pay to get to and from London. And they, not you, would stand in the queues. Not all the Schengen countries will allow this, though it seems that France will.

However, if you get a Schengen visa from France then France should really be the main destination country (or if no main destination, the country where you will be entering the Schengen area). What is your proposed itinerary like?

[Christophe]

Apologies for jumping in 'Christophe'- will we need to take proof of travel, accommodation, tickets etc to the French embassy when applying? seems bit pointless if they could refuse Schengen? (Hubby on Spouse Visa until May 2010)

There are different rules for spouses of citizens of an EU country as to what is required to be submitted with the application. I am sure that someone in the know about this will jump in with the required information...

[Hexy]

I just want to agree whole heartedly with Christophe. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, but you forgot that the head doesn't look at the hands and makes the decision without informing said hands. LOL.

Gotta laugh or I would just cry.

[stmellon]

This is the old Catch 22 situation - to apply for a visa you must provide evidence of travel and hotel bookings, yet consular officials and their agents "advise" you not to make any bookings until you have received the visa!

The reason for this is that they use that stock argument if a visa application is taking too long and you are at risk of missing your flights etc. - they say that you shouldn't have booked it in an attempt to avoid liability (one suspects).

I think that you should work on the assumption that you do need to book things, 3crown, and provide evidence of having done so.

[jerad]

thanks all of you for your replies... i didn't expect it would become a debate.
the situation is firstly, availability of the appointment... when i checked online there is none available... the i haven't ring them their premium number to see the availability of appointment... because it is costly...

i hope to get appointment around thurs or friday and go to london a day before apointment and stay with my daughter... then once i get the visa, i'll be able to travel on sat, sun or monday on the bus straight to belgium..it does travel through france though

i hope this will help you understand my problem.. but there is a problem that i won't be able to get a return ticket, because i will be coming back on my son's car.