Can I apply for Schengen visa from London as foreigner?

score:5

Accepted answer

I don't know how diligent each and every consulate is in enforcing this rule but in principle you should not be able to do that. Here is article 6 of the Schengen Visa Code:

Consular territorial competence

  1. An application shall be examined and decided on by the consulate of the competent Member State in whose jurisdiction the applicant legally resides.
  2. A consulate of the competent Member State shall examine and decide on an application lodged by a third-country national legally present but not residing in its jurisdiction, if the applicant has provided justification for lodging the application at that consulate.

Point 2 provides a bit of leeway and point 1 could theoretically allow you to submit your application elsewhere and have it forwarded to the proper consulate but I am not aware of any Schengen countries offering this. To the best of my knowledge, you must generally be a resident in the UK to apply to one of the consulates there.

Also note that visa applications for virtually all Schengen countries in London are handled by third-party outsourcing companies like VFS Global or TLS Contact. As a regular tourist, your application won't even reach the relevant consulate.

I haven't check them all but the websites from the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Spain or Poland all contain language to that effect.

Upvote:5

Whether you can apply for a Schengen visa in London depends on the rules and conditions of the embassy that will be issuing the visa. And which embassy to choose depends on the "main country" of your planned travel.

So first find out which is the main country of your travel, then find the website of the respective embassy, and then look at the rules on their website.

By the way: you didn't state in your question whether you hold a UK residence permit. If you do, most embassies will allow you to apply.

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