Starting my Schengen visa application felt like preparing for a marathon. First, I dug through embassy websites to figure out which country was my “main destination” since I planned multi-country travel. Landed on France because I’ll spend the most nights there.
Paperwork Chaos Mode
Gathered documents like a squirrel collecting nuts. Needed three months of bank statements, so I logged into my online banking at 2 AM hitting “print” until my printer screamed. For the employment letter, I pestered HR twice because they forgot to include my salary – rookie mistake.
D-Day Prep Checklist:
- Printed flight itinerary (didn’t book real flights! Used dummy tickets)
- Hotel confirmations for every single night (forgot one initially – panic!)
- Travel insurance with €30,000+ medical coverage (triple-checked dates)
- Passport photos shot in a grubby pharmacy booth (looked like a hostage)
Visa Form Nightmares
The online form took two hours. Stalled at question 22: “Purpose of stay.” Overthought “TOURISM” like it was a trick question. Uploading files? Their portal rejected PDFs above 1MB – had to compress every document twice.
Appointment Agony
Slot booking felt like concert tickets drop. Spammed refresh at 8 AM sharp. Got a 3-week-out slot – victory! Arrived an hour early at VFS Center. Security made me ditch my water bottle. Waited in blue plastic chairs watching stressed couples argue about forgotten documents.
At the counter, the agent scanned each page like a hawk. My heart stopped when she frowned at my insurance dates – but she just wanted it clipped behind the bank statements. Biometrics involved smashing my fingers into a scanner five times.
The Waiting Black Hole
Tracked status daily online. Saw “Processing at Embassy” for 18 days straight – zero updates. Almost emailed the embassy twice. Then suddenly: “Passport couriered.” Ripped open the envelope to find a 90-day sticker grinning back at me.
What Actually Mattered:
- Bank balance consistency (no suspicious deposits)
- Detailed hotel plans showing I’d leave Schengen zone
- Insurance covering the ENTIRE trip plus 15 extra days
- Not over-explaining anything in the form (“less is more” rule)
Would I do it again? Yeah, but with more coffee and less panic-sweating.
