Applying Schengen Visa from country of citizenship not country of residence

Upvote:3

Update: I got a Schengen Visa with 2 year validity for France. So, for those searching for the answer, user - "Relaxed" explained it perfectly. You can apply for a visa from your country of origin, even if it is different than your country of residence. I also didn't state any explicit reason for doing so, I guess that it was implied in my application that I would travel back to my country of residence after visiting France.

I actually also withdrew my application. My visa got processed by the embassy the day my withdrawal request reached them. A travel agent friend foretold the same - he told me that the embassy will send you the visa as soon as you give them a withdrawal request. I don't know whether it was that or whether it was already 22 working days that they had already taken, but I got the visa in the end.

Upvote:5

Some observations:

  • If they are unhappy about your place of residence, the French consulate should not β€œreject” the application, only decline to process it. That means you should get your fee back and would not get any negative history (no visa rejection decision in the Schengen area and no need to report this as such to other countries). It would still be very annoying but the stakes are lower.
  • The general rule is indeed that you should apply from your place of residence but in practice that's mostly an issue for tourists and people on short visits to other countries, not to people who are back in their country of origin. The way this is enforced is by requiring, e.g., a residence permit from applicants who are not nationals of the country covered by a given consulate. This doesn't apply to you and if your application made it past the VFS filter, I think the French consulate is still likely to process it (even if they don't have to, formally).
  • Even if the general rule is to apply from your place of residence, it is also allowed to apply from another place if you have a legit reason for doing so. And being in India so long that it wasn't practical to apply from the UK during the recommended time frame can be such a reason. So the consulate might simply decide to process your application anyway. In theory, it's better to explicitly explain why you are applying from another consulate but that's not a guarantee of success either.
  • I was not able to attend my business meeting on time. That part is actually more concerning to me, it means there is no valid purpose for your trip anymore. Worse case scenario the French consulate could refuse the visa based on that. This would be enraging since you did have a purpose when you applied but legally unimpeachable.

I would therefore base the decision on your travel plans. Since that business meeting won't be happening and it seems you are considering returning to the UK, it makes sense to withdraw your application and start a new one with a solid rationale, perhaps to another country in the Schengen area. If the purpose of your planned trip to France was still valid and you had no intention to go back to the UK, I would not advise pulling the application only because it was lodged in India.

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