My friends invited me to spend a few days in Italy visiting Verona, Venice and La Garda. As we both hold Russian passports we had to obtain a Schengen visa for Italy. I decided to find some information on the website of the Italian Embassy in London. It says on the embassy website that visa applications must be lodged not at the embassy, but at the visa centre. By the way, if you live in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland the visa centre that service these parts of the UK is based in London. Contact the italian embassy in edinburgh if you are residing in Scotland, because your application will not be accepted in the visa centre in london. If you live closer to Manchester than London, you may not apply for a Spanish or Portuguese Schengen visa in London, you have to submit your application in Manchester. In any case before booking an appointment with a visa application centre check what visa centre or consulate service your area.
I then checked when the appointment was available, and managed to book two slots in 15 days. It gave us enough time to gather visa supporting documents, to book tickets and make a hotel reservation. I want to draw your attention to the following two things. Every applicant has to have an appointment confirmation letter. If, for instance, you are a family of two parents and one child you need to have three appointment slots booked in order to submit your visa application. The other point to mention is this: they want to see every applicant in person on the day of appointment. I did not know about this rule when I came to submit my husband's application and mine, so I had to book another appointment, because they wanted to see him in person and did not accept his application.
There are a few more things worth mentioning regarding the visa supporting documents. If you traveling to Italy as a tourist you should add the name, address and the telephone number of the hotel where you are staying. If you are staying with your friends or relatives you should submit an invitation and copy of their passport. If it is a transit visa instead of the hotel details you should put the full address and name of the person you are staying with when arrive at the country which is your main destination.If you need a business visa you will be asked to provide both the details of the inviting organisation and of the hotel where you are staying. All visa supporting documents including employment letter and bank statement must not be older than 28 days. It is important to have a photocopy of every original document you want to keep.Visa fee can be paid with credit card or cash.
One of the rules you really need to be aware of is this. Your marriage certificate and birth certificate must be translated into English, after that the translation of both documents must be certified by the relevant embassy in the UK. This procedure is required only for those who got married outside the UK. If you hold British marriage certificate nothing of the above mentioned is required, but make sure you are submitting the original of the marriage certificate.
If you hold a student visa for the UK you can only apply for a Schengen visa at the time of being a full time student. You must confirm this by presenting a letter from your college or university. If your enrolment letter is older than one month, you must provide a new letter.
Bank statement serves as your UK address confirmation and proof of having sufficient funds to support yourself while you are on holiday. If you do not receive the bank statements by post you should go to the bank and ask them to post the original statement with your full name and UK address on it. This can be arranged within a week.
If you are looking to get a multiple entry visa there are a few factors to take into account. One of them is having annual multi trip travel insurance. You can bring a letter from your bank about your travel insurance and the insurance booklet. The booklet does not contain your name, that is why it is necessary to have a letter. You can also buy insyrance from any insurance company which is registered in EU. It must cover you for 30,000 GBP and include medical expenses and repatriation costs. It took 4 days to process our Schengen visa application.
I then checked when the appointment was available, and managed to book two slots in 15 days. It gave us enough time to gather visa supporting documents, to book tickets and make a hotel reservation. I want to draw your attention to the following two things. Every applicant has to have an appointment confirmation letter. If, for instance, you are a family of two parents and one child you need to have three appointment slots booked in order to submit your visa application. The other point to mention is this: they want to see every applicant in person on the day of appointment. I did not know about this rule when I came to submit my husband's application and mine, so I had to book another appointment, because they wanted to see him in person and did not accept his application.
There are a few more things worth mentioning regarding the visa supporting documents. If you traveling to Italy as a tourist you should add the name, address and the telephone number of the hotel where you are staying. If you are staying with your friends or relatives you should submit an invitation and copy of their passport. If it is a transit visa instead of the hotel details you should put the full address and name of the person you are staying with when arrive at the country which is your main destination.If you need a business visa you will be asked to provide both the details of the inviting organisation and of the hotel where you are staying. All visa supporting documents including employment letter and bank statement must not be older than 28 days. It is important to have a photocopy of every original document you want to keep.Visa fee can be paid with credit card or cash.
One of the rules you really need to be aware of is this. Your marriage certificate and birth certificate must be translated into English, after that the translation of both documents must be certified by the relevant embassy in the UK. This procedure is required only for those who got married outside the UK. If you hold British marriage certificate nothing of the above mentioned is required, but make sure you are submitting the original of the marriage certificate.
If you hold a student visa for the UK you can only apply for a Schengen visa at the time of being a full time student. You must confirm this by presenting a letter from your college or university. If your enrolment letter is older than one month, you must provide a new letter.
Bank statement serves as your UK address confirmation and proof of having sufficient funds to support yourself while you are on holiday. If you do not receive the bank statements by post you should go to the bank and ask them to post the original statement with your full name and UK address on it. This can be arranged within a week.
If you are looking to get a multiple entry visa there are a few factors to take into account. One of them is having annual multi trip travel insurance. You can bring a letter from your bank about your travel insurance and the insurance booklet. The booklet does not contain your name, that is why it is necessary to have a letter. You can also buy insyrance from any insurance company which is registered in EU. It must cover you for 30,000 GBP and include medical expenses and repatriation costs. It took 4 days to process our Schengen visa application.
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