Schengen visa for France

[IrinaNMike 0]

Irina and I were planning a trip to Paris in the spring, but I just looked up the visa requirements for her, and now I'm a little discouraged. She needs a letter from her own employer, not mine (Irina is retired), a letter from our health insurance carrier with very specific language which Blue Cross/Blue Shield may not agree to, and we must go to San Francisco and apply in person, because this is a 'biometric' visa which requires fingerprinting. The trip to San Francisco would set us back minimum $1000 with no guarantee of a visa at the end.

I'm leaning now toward postponing the trip until she becomes a citizen, but she was looking forward to it and will be very disappointed.

Before I do, I thought I would post the problem and see how others have dealt with it.

First of all, has anyone on the Forum tried getting a Schengen visa through a travel agent in Russia and then going from the US to France instead of from Russia to France? Logistically this would not be a problem because Irina is already packing to go to Novosibirsk in two weeks to visit friends. The visa requirements for Russians living in Russia appear to be much laxer than for Russians living in America, too. If that is by accident, then it's a loophole; but if it's by design, then when we fly to Paris in the spring, we would risk being turned back. I won't try this idea unless someone else has already done it.

Secondly, it appears fairly simple to get a Schengen visa to Italy, fly to Rome, and from there fly to Paris. It would add $200 to our travel costs and would add about half a day to our travel time, each way, however. We went to Italy last spring on a Schengen visa and the requirements haven't changed on the website, so getting a Schengen visa to France should be possible this way.

Looking over what I have just written, I have a feeling I'm just going to have to disappoint Irina and tell her the trip is off. Anyone have any experience or suggestions?

[russ 1]

First of all, has anyone on the Forum tried getting a Schengen visa through a travel agent in Russia and then going from the US to France instead of from Russia to France? Logistically this would not be a problem because Irina is already packing to go to Novosibirsk in two weeks to visit friends. The visa requirements for Russians living in Russia appear to be much laxer than for Russians living in America, too. If that is by accident, then it's a loophole; but if it's by design, then when we fly to Paris in the spring, we would risk being turned back. I won't try this idea unless someone else has already done it.

In general, you should be applying for visas in your country of residence, not your country of nationality.

Secondly, it appears fairly simple to get a Schengen visa to Italy, fly to Rome, and from there fly to Paris. It would add $200 to our travel costs and would add about half a day to our travel time, each way, however. We went to Italy last spring on a Schengen visa and the requirements haven't changed on the website, so getting a Schengen visa to France should be possible this way.

Yes, you can do this. There is no problem. The rule is that either you should enter that country, or plan on spending most of your trip in that country.

Rome is great too, why not have a one night layover there? Greece is an easy place to get a visa as well, and you could spend a night in Athens. We did exactly this, visa to Greece, then on to Paris.

[slim 1,525]

I've heard of no problems for Schengens from the countries russ listed above. Perhaps you should try one of those and kind of "detour" a little. A "mandatory" visit to another city isn't such a bad thing in Europe.