Hi, everybody, it's Grant Thomas from Visa's Association,
bringing you another one of the most commonly asked questions that we get.
And this question is, "What are the reasons why my Schengen Visa
applications would be refused, rejected or denied?"
Right now, this is very important because
it's almost like going back to school, understanding what the wrong questions
or what the wrong answers to the right questions look like is sometimes more
important than understanding exactly what success looks like.
But it also helps everybody sort of have a barometer or a bit of a temperature
around what is acceptable and what's not acceptable.
Like with many things, you are able to not so much twist
the rules, but understand when there's might be like a little gray area.
And that's what we really kind of specialize in, helping
Schengen Visa applicants actually
understand exactly what they need to do and sort of where those lines are
that they can kind of push and pull in regards to their application.
So in this video,
we're going to be running through the twelve largest items
that cause a lot of these refusals or rejections, if you will.
There are a lot more, but these are the ones that we commonly
see, but also people in the industry that we talk to, they commonly see as well.
So, strap yourself in, pull up the boots and where applicable,
I'll refer to other videos and things like that as we go on.
All right. So let's jump into it.
One of the first ones that I just want
to mention is and it's not applicable to too many people.
Is if you have current criminal activities or any previous legal cases or law suits
or otherwise, it does impact your ability to travel to the Schengen region.
And this is not sort of directed at people, particularly.
It is more an assessment of the Schengen region and the probability or possibility
of that criminal activity being applied within the country.
And so they're not looking at specific
individuals suggesting, hey, they're going to do it again or they're
not suited for us because of something they did 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago.
Usually the reason for this is because
people have them and they don't call them out.
And so there have been people who have got
a history in these kind of actions and they do actually get in and get a
Schengen Visa because of so long ago or it was not that important.
Or it was sort of quite a small crime.
But I do know that if you have had any
criminal activity or anything sort of tagged to you relevant to the police or otherwise,
just please include it in your application process, because the embassy does have
the ability to dive a little bit deeper into your personal profile.
And if they find out that or they deem that you've been trying to lie or been
trying to not provide them with all of the truth, it will work against you.
So this one is quite small.
But just know that depending on the scale
of activity, just try and call it out, please.
So second one that we just want to run through is falsifying travel documents.
This is probably the number one thing that frustrates me the most is
in a previous sort of conversations and videos, we talk about
where you can go and get your flights or your accommodation through a reservation
company, which is what Visas Association does as well.
And so because we go and formally communicate with the airlines,
with the hotels and get you an actual reserved ticket that is valid
for the duration of your application process so that you can go and book your
own flights, go into your own whatever you need to.
That's not a false travel document that is legitimate.
The other approach that people can take is
actually paying for the flights and accommodation 100 percent upfront.
And that, again, is not false documents.
What a false document is if you go to 80 percent of the Web
sites that are out there where they say, hey, reserve flights and reserve hotels
and they actually just make a fake reservation for you.
The reason that this is a false document is
because the embassy and consulate will go into the appropriate booking website
you have used and will literally copy
the booking reference that you get and put it into the flight company or
the organizer or the accommodation or the hotel just to see, hey,
does this ID actually match any valid booking that is under this person's name?
And so if they find out that you don't
have that, they'll obviously refuse or deny your Schengen Visa application.
Now, do note, this is a criminal activity.
Doing and applying fraudulent documents or
lying on your application is... and because it is a
Formal visa application...
It is a criminal offense.
Right, so don't do it.
Don't risk it.
Pay that little more to get a real reserved
flight or real reserved accommodation or pay for them yourself.
It doesn't matter if you use us or use someone else.
Just do not use fake flights or fake accommodations.
It is wrong and it will get you into a lot of trouble, even to the extent that they
might blacklist you and never be able to enter the Schengen region ever again.
So don't use false travel documents.
The third one is insufficient explanation
for the purpose and circumstances of your planned stay.
So a lot of the time where people have
been refused entry and they come to Visas Association for some assistance is where
we see them not providing adequate reasoning as to why they need to travel.
Most people get like a tourism visa with multiple entry.
This is a great visa.
It is fantastic.
And it supports most of the situations of why people go into the Schengen region.
But do note that the number one question when you apply for that type of visa is
why are you not just applying for a single or a double entry?
Why your point for multiple, which is three plus entries
and what is the purpose for it?
And so what they're really looking for is
the countries that you're going to, the exact activities that you are going
to and hopefully they can get some booked activities or booked tours
to validate that you are going to go to these countries
and looking for all that kind of validation, if that makes sense.
So when you apply for one of the Schengen
Visa types, whether even be for work or business.
They just want to validate that that is
what you're doing and that's what you're going for.
So sometimes we recommend people to have tour bookings.
Like, so, for example, if you're going to Italy, book
the Colosseum tour, book the tour to wherever you're going.
Because you can attach that activity and the booking to the exact tour to say,
hey, I am going here and seeing this, this, this and this.
So if you're applying for a multiple
entry, try and have activities across three or more countries don't just say
I'm flying into Italy and I'm leaving from Italy, please give me a multiple
entry because that probably deny and refuse your entry.
Number four is having a damaged passport.
This might sound silly,
but if you've got a rip in your passport, if you've got missing pages in your
passport or it looks like it could have been damaged.
The reason that were rejected is because
typically that is what fraudulent documents look like.
So when people are trying to travel internationally and they don't want people
to know who they are, they are trying to damage their passport
a little bit because it sort of takes the attention away from where they've
replaced a photo, replace the name or otherwise.
So if your passport is damaged, just go and get a replacement.
There is no other fix to it.
You can't put sticky tape on it.
You can't do anything.
Just go and get a new passport.
Number five is passport invalidity.
What do we mean by this?
It is if you are coming back
from the Schengen region on the 30th of September,
you need to make sure that your passport is still valid for three months
beyond that.
And so even though your trip is finishing
at the end of September, you need to make sure that your passport
is going to be valid until the end of December.
And the reason for this is because a lot
of times when people travel, they have situations that they can't avoid.
So they might get sick, they might get hurt, they might have whatever.
And so what they're trying to do here is
just make sure that you can have enough time on your passport to get home,
if something bad happens and funnily
enough, this is not just the Schengen region that needs this.
If you're traveling
to any countries, it's usually three to six months validity
that you must have on your passport.
So if there is even two months and three
weeks, they're not going to negotiate with you.
They would just refuse entry.
Just going get the renewed passport and bring that into your application.
Number six is the lack of travel itinerary.
So previously for number three, we talked about the insufficient
explanation, which aligns highly to the type of visa you're getting.
This one is the lack of proof of your travel itinerary.
And I'll actually link to a video that walks through how to create your own
itinerary yourself so that you can understand exactly what you need to do.
But the lack of proof is really relevant to people going and creating a spreadsheet
or word document that says, I'm going to go from Italy to France and then Spain.
It doesn't help anybody.
Your travel itinerary needs to have a day by day breakdown.
Of where you are going to stay?
What flights are going to take and what activities are you going to do?
They are literally looking for a full
planned out activity schedule for your travel through the Schengen region.
And the reason for this is because, again, they know that you've thought about this,
they know that you're actually going to be real about it and that you're not just
trying to get to the Schengen region for another reason.
So you need to have proof, but you also need to have the detail behind it.
And the proof can just be reservations
of tours or activities, as we've spoken about prior.
So number seven is invalid
letter of reference, whether it be fraud,
whether it be faked signatures, whether it be missing signatures,
whether it doesn't, whether it isn't addressed to the embassy, etc.
They are again looking for the key items
within these letters of reference of whether it be the
No Objection Certificate (NOC),
whether it be your cover letter, whatever the reference document is,
you need to make sure that it is highly valid and it meets the criteria.
We do walk you through with this in a lot of detail in other videos.
I won't get into huge amounts of detail of it, but just make sure it's signed.
It's got the appropriate information on it.
And that is one hundred percent valid.
Number eight is insufficient means of substance.
This is for your financials.
So if you are travelling to the Schengen
region, as we've talked about in previous video,
you must be able to pass the financial means test.
And so every single country within the Schengen region has different
financial amounts by the day that you need to have a bank account.
So, for example, they usually sit between 50 to 80 US dollars.
So if you're gonna be in Italy for call it 10 days and that's all,
you're going to be going to take 10 days and tons of by about 80.
And it requires you to have 800 U.S. dollars in a bank account.
And we even recommend everybody to increase that by 50 percent.
So in that situation that you need
to at least have 1,300 U.S. dollars in a bank account,
because what they are looking to do is say if something goes wrong, can you do X?
But also, do you have enough money to eat, live, breath, stay and travel in that country.
And so each country has got sort of different
socio-economic status, which means in some
countries are cheaper for food, cheaper for transport than other countries.
And so again, they fluctuate by country.
But, do note, all they are looking for is
to make sure that you've got enough money to travel through those countries.
And so if they see bank statements
and payslips that don't support you travelling through these countries
they will reject it and you won't be able to go.
Next one, which is number nine is unacceptable
Birth or Marriage Certificates?
This one is very common, especially in unfortunate sort
of countries like we usually see this through the Vietnam and Philippines
and countries where the birth certificates might not be as
formal as sort of other countries like people applying through Russia or otherwise.
And so what they're looking for is not someone just writing on a piece of paper
that, yes, this person was born on these dates and these were the names. They are
looking for the Government formal document as at when you were born,
that defines your name, who you are, who your parents were, etc,
because that's what's going to give them
the means to say, yes, this person is who they say they are.
And the same goes for marriage certificates as well.
In addition to this, always get copies made and certified.
If you can't provide the original
yourself. Originals can be expensive and you cannot
apply them and you can give them the originals.
But again, just get them certified by a lawyer or pharmacies or another
government body based on your country that can certify them and submit them.
Number ten is no travel insurance or invalid travel insurance.
So travelling to the Schengen region
requires a very important type of travel insurance.
It must have a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros.
And the reason for this is because
of the costs for health care and travel, et cetera.
And so if they see through the policy that you provide to them that it doesn't
have the 30,000 euro limit on it or that it's not even aligned to the dates
that you're applying for, that will immediately refuse and deny your travel.
Again, contact Visa's Association we are happy to walk you through a couple
of options that you can use for your travel insurance as well.
Number 11 is lack of presenting proof for your accommodation.
When we say this, it's if you're traveling by yourself in your application,
they need to see the hotels or the AirBnB's that you have reserved or you're
fully paid for within the application process.
If you just include a line in your cover letter saying, hey, I will book it after I
get an approved Schengen Visa, they're not going to approve it.
And really, you need to show that this whole holiday has been planned,
this whole trip has been planned, whether it be work, business study or otherwise.
And the reason that your going is this and that you can go and support it.
So, again, there are companies that help provide you with reserved hotels
and accommodation, like Visas Association, but do not use fake bookings.
Don't use fake documents at all. Always provide it.
And then every single night that you're there in the Schengen region,
provide them with proof that that is what you're going to be doing.
And we're going to be staying. And one of the last ones,
and there is more than 12 by the way, is unfavorable Schengen Visa situation.
And when we dive a little bit deeper
into this, it again means like you are not really valid to be travelling
to the Schengen region might have been rejected before,
the people you're travelling with might have been rejected before,
the places you're going don't exist.
There's just a whole heap of different situations that come into play on this.
And if they're refusing for this, they'll usually try and give you some kind
of indication as to why. This one is less common,
but again, it's just a very important one for you to be across.
So hopefully this has given you a little bit of insight into sort of the 12 top
reasons for refusal, rejection or being denied a Schengen Visa.
Now, if this has helped you at all, or even if you've still got some
questions, put a comment down below and ask away.
We do create these videos quite regularly.
Be more than happy to help.
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And again, what I'll do is
link across to a couple of other videos that you can watch that should help you
further within your Schengen Visa application.
So from me to you: Thank you very much for joining
and hopefully this has been very
educational and is helping you through your Schengen Visa application.