Schengen visa for US immigrant wife?

[traveler100 20]

Hi.

I am posting this question for anyone who might have had some experience with this. My wife, who is a housewife in Pakistan recently got her IV visa approved and passport in hand. Now she is insisting that I come to pick her up. She doesn't want to travel alone. I visited her a few months ago, and so I was thinking if I have to make this trip, we might as well travel somewhere else en route.

So, we decided to stopover in Greece for a few days. Since she is still a pakistani citizen, she needs a schengen visa to be able to visit Greece. If anyone has experience obtaining schengen visa for a spouse, can you please help shed some light on the likelihood of successfully getting a schengen visa issued? I read up on the requirements for a schengen visa and I see that they require proof of employment and bank balance. My wife is a homemaker, she doesn't work, and has very little in her bank account., however I am a US citizen with who owns a successful business and have a nice bank balance. Can I attach my documents with her schengen visa application? As a USC I do not require schengen visa to travel to Greece but what if I attach my bank statements as her husband and job letter along with our marriage certificate, our hotel reservations, airline tickets to Greece and copy of my US passport will that get her approved for a schengen visa to visit Greece? We only plan on staying a few days in Greece and will have our onwards ticket to travel forward to the US after our stay in Greece.

We did the same thing for her Indonesian visa when we wanted to travel to Bali. Applied for her visa and attached my proof of funds, marriage cretificate as proof of relation and it got approved.

[Boiler 46,260]

Judging by the news coverage there are a lot of Pakistani's in Greece, she would apply to the Greek Consulate, whether the process allows attachment of documents I do not know, having an onward US visa would be the strong point.

Have you considered travelling via Canada?

[traveler100 20]

Judging by the news coverage there are a lot of Pakistani's in Greece, she would apply to the Greek Consulate, whether the process allows attachment of documents I do not know, having an onward US visa would be the strong point.

Have you considered travelling via Canada?

Hey boiler. Somehow I just knew you'd be the first person to respond to this query.

Canada is out of the way for us, and I'm sure Canadian visa for a pakistani citizen who doesn't have her i-551 stamp yet (permanent residence) it'll be difficult.

[rutabaga 209]

I think it's entirely plausible that what worked for Indonesia will work for Greece as well, no guarantee, of course, but I'd definitely try.

P.S. Alternatively, I know that your wife could get into Serbia with a valid US visa accepted in lieu of a Serbian one and according to the Turkish MFA website she could also get a free eVisa to get into Turkey under the same circumstances. I know it's not Greece, but you know... thereabouts Plus there's direct flights to the US from Turkey and I've flown Turkish Airlines before (IAD-IST-BEG actually) and it's a pretty good deal generally both price-wise and flight quality wise.

[traveler100 20]

I think it's entirely plausible that what worked for Indonesia will work for Greece as well, no guarantee, of course, but I'd definitely try.

P.S. Alternatively, I know that your wife could get into Serbia with a valid US visa accepted in lieu of a Serbian one and according to the Turkish MFA website she could also get a free eVisa to get into Turkey under the same circumstances. I know it's not Greece, but you know... thereabouts Plus there's direct flights to the US from Turkey and I've flown Turkish Airlines before (IAD-IST-BEG actually) and it's a pretty good deal generally both price-wise and flight quality wise.

Hey. Thanks for that tip. Can you tell me what city in serbia is good for tourism? We initially planned to go to Turkey but with the political situation there right now, we changed plans. We don't want to go anywhere risky, you know what I mean. Do you know any other country my wife could enter with a US visa in lieu of their own visa? Somewhere close to Istanbul would be great as we have a stay in Ist for a few days on our itinerary already and we hope to fly elsewhere in those days.

[rutabaga 209]

No problem According to Timatic, her US visa should also give her access to Montenegro, but do double check that.

Any major city will be a good base of operations as we are a relatively small country (roughly the size of SC) so you can go to day trips to pretty much anywhere else, but it really depends on what kinds of things you're into. Wikitravel has some info on the different locales so if you're interested you can definitely check it out, as well as Lonely Planet, or just shoot me a message here with the kinds of things you're interested in and I'll do my best to recommend something.

[Boiler 46,260]

I like Montenegro, not sure how well it is connected with Pakistan?

[rutabaga 209]

Well, since Istanbul is on the map, I believe Turkish has daily flights to/from Podgorica from there (as it does to Belgrade, while we're at it).

[Boiler 46,260]

I used to fly into Dubrovnik, but was a long time ago.

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

So, sometimes the person doesn't need a visa so long as she has visa for her final destination and does not intend to leave the airport.

I got a Schengen visa to transit Amsterdam ( I didn't know I could have come without it).

When your wife apply for the visa at the Greek embassy, she will have to submit her passport with the america visa.She will pay the fees and she should get the required passport picture.

Approval is usually short and there's no lengthy interview involved. I don't remember attending an interview for that visa. They took my passport with the application form, fees and two passport pictures. I picked up my visa within 3 days of submission.

[kris&me 572]

From Pakistan she does need to apply for schengen visa with her information / depending on the country you will stay in for the longest time, that is the embassy to apply to and they may only want info from her / it does say need employment records such as income tax papers

I got one for Germany several years ago but the political climate has changed

may be easier to visit Egypt and Morocco on the way home

wishing you a great trip

any of this would be fantasic

welcome your wife to the US