Schengen Visas from the UK - Whats going on?!

[XJSJohn]

Some background for the many that will not have had to go through this, If you are a foreign Non EU citizen living in the UK on a long stay visa or Indefinite Leave To Remain, you still need to apply for a Schengen Visa (from the UK as this is your place of residence) to travel into the Schengen Zone. To do this, you have to fill out the forms and present documents to in person via an appointment with one of 2 companies, TLS Connect or VFS Global. No Embassies or consulates will accept submissions direct.

There is currently zero availability for an appointment with either company, at any of their centres in the UK for any Schengen Nation, at all, for a 6 month period, and its been like this for 6 weeks now (that i know of)

There has never been an issue in previous years. OK in peak times there may have been a 2 week wait for an appointment.

Whats happening?

• Are TLS Connect and VFS global cutting back on staff (both of these are international companies not local)?
• Is there that many more non-eu foreigners now living in the UK that the system cannot cope?
• Are the Schengen Nations restricting the number of Schengen Visa slots?

Interestingly, if i look at VFS in Ireland i can get an appointment next day, unfortunately although the Wife does have a visa for Ireland, she is not resident there so we cannot even do that.

Something is broken.

Looks like summer holiday will be in Albania, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt or Morocco, the only 5 nearby countries that offer visa free entry for her.

Either way, a frustrating 1st world problem.

[arfur]

XJSJohn said:

Some background for the many that will not have had to go through this, If you are a foreign Non EU citizen living in the UK on a long stay visa or Indefinite Leave To Remain, you still need to apply for a Schengen Visa (from the UK as this is your place of residence) to travel into the Schengen Zone. To do this, you have to fill out the forms and present documents to in person via an appointment with one of 2 companies, TLS Connect or VFS Global. No Embassies or consulates will accept submissions direct.

There is currently zero availability for an appointment with either company, at any of their centres in the UK for any Schengen Nation, at all, for a 6 month period, and its been like this for 6 weeks now (that i know of)

There has never been an issue in previous years. OK in peak times there may have been a 2 week wait for an appointment.

Whats happening?

• Are TLS Connect and VFS global cutting back on staff (both of these are international companies not local)?
• Is there that many more non-eu foreigners now living in the UK that the system cannot cope?
• Are the Schengen Nations restricting the number of Schengen Visa slots?

Interestingly, if i look at VFS in Ireland i can get an appointment next day, unfortunately although the Wife does have a visa for Ireland, she is not resident there so we cannot even do that.

Something is broken.

Looks like summer holiday will be in Albania, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt or Morocco, the only 5 nearby countries that offer visa free entry for her.

Either way, a frustrating 1st world problem.

And the application website it probably one of worst and most infuriating sites to have to try to use.

She can go to Gib without an issue ...

[XJSJohn]

arfur said:

And the application website it probably one of worst and most infuriating sites to have to try to use.

It's almost as if you have been through this too ....

a 6 year old with Notepad could have done a better job!

[arfur]

XJSJohn said:

arfur said:

And the application website it probably one of worst and most infuriating sites to have to try to use.

It's almost as if you have been through this too ....

a 6 year old with Notepad could have done a better job!

I got angry with it multiple times as it "timed out" for no reason and had to start again .. and again

If you pay the VIP extra it opens up "new" slots ...

But note - Gib is no issue and can walk in with UK visa - you get a tourist one on arrival, take 2 mins and is free. Clearly you are stuck in Gib, but if just for a few days and you like a good walk/history etc - you can even rent a boat if you have a licence and be really sneaky and go to spain - clearly I'd never do such a thing ;-)

[Overall D]

XJSJohn said:

Some background for the many that will not have had to go through this, If you are a foreign Non EU citizen living in the UK on a long stay visa or Indefinite Leave To Remain, you still need to apply for a Schengen Visa (from the UK as this is your place of residence) to travel into the Schengen Zone. To do this, you have to fill out the forms and present documents to in person via an appointment with one of 2 companies, TLS Connect or VFS Global. No Embassies or consulates will accept submissions direct.

There is currently zero availability for an appointment with either company, at any of their centres in the UK for any Schengen Nation, at all, for a 6 month period, and its been like this for 6 weeks now (that i know of)

There has never been an issue in previous years. OK in peak times there may have been a 2 week wait for an appointment.

Whats happening?

• Are TLS Connect and VFS global cutting back on staff (both of these are international companies not local)?
• Is there that many more non-eu foreigners now living in the UK that the system cannot cope?
• Are the Schengen Nations restricting the number of Schengen Visa slots?

Interestingly, if i look at VFS in Ireland i can get an appointment next day, unfortunately although the Wife does have a visa for Ireland, she is not resident there so we cannot even do that.

Something is broken.

Looks like summer holiday will be in Albania, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt or Morocco, the only 5 nearby countries that offer visa free entry for her.

Either way, a frustrating 1st world problem.

Both VFS and TLS are amazingly incredibly bad and an illustration to how monopoly leads to degradation.

My OH managed to get an appointment for Spanish visa after a 4 or 5 week wait back in February, must’ve gotten worse, not looking forward to renewing if what you say keeps going on.

[XJSJohn]

arfur said:

If you pay the VIP extra it opens up "new" slots ...

The cheek is that a Schengen Visa is free, yet they want £1,000 for a "VIP" rather than the £50 or whatever their usual fee is to collect some documents and pop in a jiffy bag. Visa's have become big business now!

arfur said:

you can even rent a boat if you have a licence and be really sneaky and go to spain - clearly I'd never do such a thing ;-)

Hmmm........

[Car bon]

Seems odd that there's no slots.

I just got a 6 month long stay tourist visa for France (I'm a UK citizen). Appointment was booked a couple of weeks prior to & got the passport, complete with new visa, back within a week.

The whole process is a ball ache and the visa centre in London was full of mainly UK based Chinese wanting to go on a trip to France.

Maybe there's different availability depending on which citizenship you have & which visa you apply for ? In which case, I can recommend a French VLS which allows you to move around Schengen outside France for 90 days, but presumably you need to enter via France from the UK.

Edited by Car bon on Friday 6th June 14:10

[eth2190]

My partner went through this mess prior to our holiday to France. She ended up paying for a service which was essentially a bot grabbing appointments the instant they go live. Something like £100 IIRC. It was impossible to get an appointment otherwise.

Despite starting the process 4 months before the trip, only got her passport back 15 mins before closing time the on day before we were supposed to fly.

[XJSJohn]

eth2190 said:

My partner went through this mess prior to our holiday to France. She ended up paying for a service which was essentially a bot grabbing appointments the instant they go live. Something like £100 IIRC. It was impossible to get an appointment otherwise.

Despite starting the process 4 months before the trip, only got her passport back 15 mins before closing time the on day before we were supposed to fly.

Do you know which of the sites she used, they all look properly shonky

[XJSJohn]

Car bon said:

Seems odd that there's no slots.

I just got a 6 month long stay tourist visa for France (I'm a UK citizen). Appointment was booked a couple of weeks prior to & got the passport, complete with new visa, back within a week.

The whole process is a ball ache and the visa centre in London was full of mainly UK based Chinese wanting to go on a trip to France.

Maybe there's different availability depending on which citizenship you have & which visa you apply for ? In which case, I can recommend a French VLS which allows you to move around Schengen outside France for 90 days, but presumably you need to enter via France from the UK.

Edited by Car bon on Friday 6th June 14:10

Don't think its a Citizenship thing as that doesnt even factor into the interview booking, however your experience would suggest that this issue is specific to Schengen Visa's

Have been trying France, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, all the same, which would suggest either a major increase in Schengen Visa applications from the UK (Note this is not a Brexit thing, as they were required before anyway), or a major reduction in number of Schengen Visa slots being offered, or a combination.

[bodhi]

Not sure about the Visa process but what about Cyprus? Not currently in Schengen, although they do plan to join next year.

[XJSJohn]

bodhi said:

Not sure about the Visa process but what about Cyprus? Not currently in Schengen, although they do plan to join next year.

Unfortunately, Wife is Indonesian, not many countries seem to like them from a visa perspective. They come in a heady 67th in the passport index, equal to Morocco and Malawi, and just ahead of Azerbaijan, Tanzania and The Gambia.

In this instance she was hoping to go to Netherlands to catch up with a friend that was visiting from Indonesia.

Does make one realise just how valuable our UK passports.

[leyorkie]

I know it sounds strange but there is no such thing as a Schengen visa as such.
You apply to the country where you enter the Schengen area.
I'm on a French visa now but that's because I stay in France but they're not bothered where I've been within the Schengen area just when I arrive and leave.
TLS is money for old rope they have don't add anything just collect documents for the various embassies.

[Prisoner 24601]

We've been through this a few times, each year it gets worse. Two months ago we opted for a £200 VIP appointment in the Spanish BLS website and the visa centre is in Farringdon (London). Zero general appointments available, but when we switched the website toggle button thingy to VIP, many appointments became available.

Interestingly, whilst we were inside the visa centre a few weeks later, she was inside the special area, me and the kids in the general waiting room - one of the staff was shouting out for the next number, then continued to call sequential numbers, then said..."any walk in's here?" ....what?? I went up to him and got his attention, I asked if I had heard him correctly and that there are general walk in appointments??!! he said if you come at a quiet time you can walk in and apply, it's not 100% guaranteed but some midweek times are quiet...Tuesday/Thursday mid morning, mid afternoon.

I was so p!ssed off as I found it very stressful getting the appointment.

[theboss]

I’ve had the reciprocal problem getting my MIL a visit visa for the UK where it’s been impossible to get the necessary appointment at her local visa application centre without basically paying VIP and a load of extra “add ons” that are completely unnecessary.

Then, there is availability. But not on the standard route.

It’s an absolute farce and a license for these outsourced providers to print money.

When we got my wife a US tourist visa last year (she was UK naturalised at this point but not enough time to get the passport + ESTA) it was fairly painless to go down to the embassy pay the standard fee of several hundred USD and then her foreign passport is returned with a 10 year entry clearance without us even asking for that duration. I thought US would be tricky but it was a lesson in how things should work.

[phumy]

John, i feel your pain, im going through the process trying to get 1 Vietnamese into the UK, im struggling with the wait for a positive response from UKVI.

[ferret50]

phumy said:

John, i feel your pain, im going through the process trying to get 1 Vietnamese into the UK, im struggling with the wait for a positive response from UKVI.

Suggest you tell them to make their way to Calias and buy a ride on a rubber dinghy!

[wyson]

My colleague had this problem, he said he solved it by forking out £400 with an agency? His theory was they book up popular holiday times to sell on like ticket scalping?

Off peak, middle of Feb for instance, he said there was no need, plenty of slots on line.

[ooid]

I remember a few of my colleagues had this issue (It is stupid to be honest). As someone mentioned, look for agencies, they could be faster and expensive. Another route, I remember, it was Belgium. No one was usually travelling to Belgium (), so loads of appointments were available. Of course you would also buy a cheap eurostar ticket to belgium and hotel reservation, and include other travel locations too. This was a combo-trick, years ago!, not sure if its still valid and good luck!

[ooid]

XJSJohn said:

Looks like summer holiday will be in Albania, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt or Morocco, the only 5 nearby countries that offer visa free entry for her.

Either way, a frustrating 1st world problem.

Actually, I think you can consider 'Turkey' too. I do not think they ask visa for Indonesia, and it will be full of Brits especially if you travel to Bodrum or Antalya!