Schengen visa refusal due to an inadvertent overstay

There is a good news where in after a Visa refusal when I immediately applied for the second time, I got my Business visa approved.

This time, I had attached a genuine apology letter stating that I genuinely got confused with the visa stay duration and visa travel dates and I also questioned the authorities diplomatically and showed that I was myself confused as to why I was given a visa for 30 days when I had submitted my confirmed flight tickets for 38 days which was ignored by German and Mumbai airport immigrations as well. Also, my client wrote a letter which I attached with my second visa application which stated my daily itinerary for all the 12 days for this trip as to what I will be doing on each day with my client’s photograph on his letterhead.

Just be honest and if one is lucky they do spare genuine mistakes!

You have previously overstayed a Schengen and your application was referred to the Belgian national authority. You then learned that a refusal is in the pipeline.

Would it be wise to reapply for a visa to Belgium itself or should I
apply it for some other Schengen country ?

No, an individual’s history of applications is recorded in a central database and available to all Schengen members. This would make your refusal visible to the other Schengen members. It is especially unwise to contrive a premise such that a specific member is targeted and attempts to hide visibility from the ‘real’ authority. This is called “visa shopping” and they do not like it, here’s what the CIA has to say about it…

VIS facilitates the exchange of visa data between member states and is
designed to prevent a practice known as “visa shopping,” where an
applicant who is refused a visa by one Schengen member state applies
for a visa in another member state. VIS conducts a one-to-many (1:N)
fingerprint search of the database to determine whether a person’s
fingerprints are already contained in the database, possibly under
another identity. VIS also verifies that the traveler is the same
person to whom the visa was issued by conducting a one-to-one (1:1)
comparison of a traveler’s fingerprint collected at a port of entry
with the fingerprint stored in the database at the time of the visa
application. (U)

Source: WikiLeaks

Will it be rejected the next time as well or there is a 50% chance of
getting approved ?

50% is a reasonable guess. They will be worried about your previous overstay. You have claimed that it was an honest mistake, but everybody in the world (if you will accept hyperbole) has a reason where the blame is shifted and they have heard it all before. On the other hand, if you have a lengthy history as a bona-fide applicant and a very strong premise, this will be taken into account in your favour.

This time application process should be any different or the same ?

No. All applications are handled uniformly. Your supporting documents are validated by the issuing post, they check your history and then make a decision based upon the level of risk.

Should I attach an apology letter ?

It’s fine to make an attestation, but it will be of marginal value. Everybody in the world (if you will accept hyperbole) is sorry when they get caught and they have seen it all before. Applicants who do not know the rules or do not follow the rules are treated as risky.

Due to this rejection, will I also be rejected to all the other 1st
world countries visa applications ?

If you are asking if Schengen application history is shared beyond the participating Schengen members, then yes, but in limited form. It does not necessarily mean that all so-called “1st world countries” will treat your risk profile in the same way or even be aware of it. But generally speaking it is a safe assumption that your record and biometrics may available for examination.

Can I do anything to undo this ?

As a general rule of thumb: you need to be successful in a visa application where the problem occured, in your case to Belgium. This sort of history tends to mitigate your level of risk. Otherwise a lengthy history of peripatetic activity can be helpful.