Schengen Visa Issues!

[Zaida Schmich]

Hi there!

This is 'Cookie' from India. I intend to walk the Camino Frances this September. I got my plane tickets till Paris and now am in the process of getting the Schengen Visa. Which by no means, has been fun!

The Spain Consulate in Mumbai, India, requires an 'invitation letter' sent by some firm/company/tourist organisation, etc. to the traveller in order to obtain a visa! How can I make this work I dont know! So anyone who is not a EU citizen and has walked the Camino, with no official 'invitation letter' or a confirmed hotel booking, Please tell me how! Would really appreciate it!

Hi Cookie,
I am a green card holder here in the states but still holds a Philippine passport. I have the same problem so I emailed the consulate of Spain in San Francisco regarding the "invitation letter" and their answer was to have a hotel reservation on the first day and last day of the Camino walk. Hope this helps.

Zaida

 

[AzCorey]

I think people are a little bit over-sensitive here. I visited Iceland a couple of years ago (Fron the U.S.) and over-stayed my visa by more than a year. I never broke any other laws and I payed for myself. (never asking for assistance) I loved it there and never had an issue. I have a job that I can work from anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. One day, I simply wanted to go back to see family. So I left. Not one issue at the Reykjavik airport. I think as long as you are not causing any problems, there will not be an issue.

 

[jirit]

If you want the most up to date and correct information please visit this site

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/index_en.htm

 

[ivar]

I think people are a little bit over-sensitive here. I visited Iceland a couple of years ago (Fron the U.S.) and over-stayed my visa by more than a year. I never broke any other laws and I payed for myself. (never asking for assistance) I loved it there and never had an issue. I have a job that I can work from anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. One day, I simply wanted to go back to see family. So I left. Not one issue at the Reykjavik airport. I think as long as you are not causing any problems, there will not be an issue.

I (or this forum) does not recommend this. You might (or might not) have problems getting back into Europe in the future.

 

[jirit]

I have added a document to the Camino Resources section that provides information on how the 90/180 day rule is calculated

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...l-for-the-short-stay-schengen-calculator.394/

 

[whariwharangi]

I think people are a little bit over-sensitive here. I visited Iceland a couple of years ago (Fron the U.S.) and over-stayed my visa by more than a year. I never broke any other laws and I payed for myself. (never asking for assistance) I loved it there and never had an issue. I have a job that I can work from anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. One day, I simply wanted to go back to see family. So I left. Not one issue at the Reykjavik airport. I think as long as you are not causing any problems, there will not be an issue.

Every time you break the rules the rules are made more stringent.

For example, Canada had a lot of people from Latin America overstay their visas. So the process got harder and more costly for Latin Americans to visit Canada. A person from South and Central America now has to demonstrate they have good reason to return home before they get a visa. And. In response the Latin American countries introduced a reciprocity tax. There is now a tax amounting to a couple hundred bucks for Canadians just to enter most Latin American countries. All because of scoff-laws that overstayed their visa.

We are a society. Just cuz you don't like the dog leash rule doesn't mean you may take the dog off the leash. You affect everyone else's rights when you don't try to obey the rules.

 

[rubyslippers]

Thanks for the links jirit-it's always best to read it for yourself. The only constant is change.

 

[hnguyen]

Dear Cookie and Yodapsy,

You only need visa to ONE Shengen country, then you can travel within the entire Shengen area without going through immigration ckeck. At least that's my experience flying from Rome to Barcelona, then flying from Barcelona to Porto, Portugal to start the camino Portuguese. From Valenca, Portugal to Tui, Spain it was just a simple matter of walking over the international bridge, without any soul within sight to bother you. It's true that at the airports in Rome and in Barcelona your passports are checked to make sure you have a valid Shengen visa - but the checking is performed by airline agents, not immigration officials.

On the matter of hotel booking for visa application purposes, you can book rooms via booking.com, making sure that you select the "free cancellation" option. Once you have your visa in hand, you can cancel the bookings and stay wherever you want.

I hope this helps.

Buen camino.

HN

PS: I'm writing from Padron, Spain where I'll have about 25-km walk into Santiago de Compostela tomorrow to complete my 3rd camino in 3 years. This camino is a part of my year-long celebration of life, to mark the first 7 decades of life.

 

[Castilian]

You only need visa to ONE Shengen country, then you can travel within the entire Shengen area without going through immigration ckeck.

Not really. AFAIK, Schengen countries can still issue visas with limited territorial validy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_p..._Area#Visas_with_limited_territorial_validity) so you have to be sure that your visa is valid for all the Schengen area and if it was just valid for a country (or some countries) in the Schengen area, you just could travel to that country (or countries). Another point to have in mind is that border controls within the Schengen area can be temporarily introduced by a member state. Random checks may happen too.

On the matter of hotel booking for visa application purposes, you can book rooms via booking.com, making sure that you select the "free cancellation" option. Once you have your visa in hand, you can cancel the bookings and stay wherever you want.

Let's recall that, AFAIK in any country, it's up to the border official to decide if you can enter (i.e.: if you meet the requirements) or if you can't enter (if you don't meet them). Having a valid visa is (very?) rare to be refused (I don't recall any case) but it might happen. OTOH, I recall cases of people that didn't need a valid visa to enter and were refused. Lack of booked accommodation was one of the reasons, if memory serves me right.