Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar - Help needed on how to get a schegen visa for spain

I planned this entire trip for Spain with my wife for the first week of Agusut but after all the details were planned I found out that the Spanish consulate in NYC is all booked up for the next two months - they don't have a single appointment slot till August 21st (the booking is online).

Can anyone give me any ideas on how I can get a schengen visa (spainish or any other country) within the next 3 to 4 weeks in order to be able to make it to spain so I don't have to cancel this trip?

This may not be the right thread but I just don't know where to post this question.

I'll move this over to the Travel Buzz for help.

What country's passport do you carry? You don't need a visa for <90 days if you have a US passport.

If you truly do need a visa for either you or your wife, I suppose you could get on the train down to DC or up to Boston and do it there if there are appointments available.

What country's passport do you carry? You don't need a visa for <90 days if you have a US passport.

If you truly do need a visa for either you or your wife, I suppose you could get on the train down to DC or up to Boston and do it there if there are appointments available.

The schengen visa is to be issued by the country where you will spend thge majority of your time.

Find some other country consulate that will have bookings. In order to show that you will stay there most of the time, you should have flight and hotel bookings to that country. Better buy fully refundable flight and hotel tickets showing your entire stay to be in there. Once you get the visa, cancel (dont forget).

What country's passport do you carry? You don't need a visa for <90 days if you have a US passport.

If you truly do need a visa for either you or your wife, I suppose you could get on the train down to DC or up to Boston and do it there if there are appointments available.

Yes, where are your passports from?

If your passports are from the U.S., Canada, many Latin American countries, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan, or South Korea, you do not need a visa for non-working visits of 90 days or less.

If you're on the US east coast why not try for an appointment in Washington DC or Boston?

Thank you so much for the replies. The idea of DC or Boston is really good - I didn't think about it but I am not sure if as a resident of NJ I am allowed to go to other consulates.

I am an indian passport holder with a US Green Card.

Another question - if I were to go to a neighboring country - say Portugal and not stay too much there but then go to spain and return back from spain - is that going to be a problem?

Also, does anyone know which country would be the best to apply for visa if not Spain? I mean the fastest to get from new york.

Thank you all !!!!!

In my experience, once you have been admitted to a Schengen country, you can travel freely to other Schengen countries within your 90-day limit.

When I went to Europe last year, I flew on Icelandair and went through Immigration only once, in the Reykjavik airport. From there, I went to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and back to Iceland, and I never had to go through immigration again until I returned to the U.S., although I had to go through security before each of my plane flights.

Schengen countries expect you to apply to the one which eitherr you are spending most time in, OR the one you first enter through.

You do need to be careful, especially if this is your first one applied for, that they don't give you a very restricted time of visa which upsets the rest of the trip. For example, we applied through the Portugese consulate in London for a visa in a (non-European) passport when going there on holiday, hoping it would also cover subsequent trips elsewhere in Europe. We attached evidence of the holiday booking in Portugal. The visa came back valid just one day either side of our Portugese holiday dates.

Once you are in the first Schengen country there are no passport checks going to other countries at all - it is like a US domestic flight. On the roads, you just drive straight across. Bear in mind some European countries, like the UK, are not in Schengen.

I planned this entire trip for Spain with my wife for the first week of Agusut but after all the details were planned I found out that the Spanish consulate in NYC is all booked up for the next two months - they don't have a single appointment slot till August 21st (the booking is online).

Can anyone give me any ideas on how I can get a schengen visa (spainish or any other country) within the next 3 to 4 weeks in order to be able to make it to spain so I don't have to cancel this trip?

This may not be the right thread but I just don't know where to post this question.

The German consulate in NY has an appointment at 9.30am tomorrow morning.

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/03__Consulates/New__York/01/__Data.html

The schengen visa is to be issued by the country where you will spend thge majority of your time.

Find some other country consulate that will have bookings. In order to show that you will stay there most of the time, you should have flight and hotel bookings to that country. Better buy fully refundable flight and hotel tickets showing your entire stay to be in there. Once you get the visa, cancel (dont forget).

Yes, when I said go up to Boton or down to DC, I meant still seeing the consulate/embassy of spain. I wasn't suggesting going to a different country's facility.

Thank you so much for the replies. The idea of DC or Boston is really good - I didn't think about it but I am not sure if as a resident of NJ I am allowed to go to other consulates.


I would call them and ask for a permission to apply for a visa in their consulate. I did that a few times and that worked for me (it was not a Spanish consulate though).

interestingly, i dealt with a very similar issue 6 years ago. indian passport holder with H1 status, needed a schengen visa to join family who were getting together in madrid in 2 weeks time, got to the spanish consulate in NYC from philly very early on a weekday morning, only to discover a very long line and a dim possibility of getting the visa in time. whilst speaking to other non-US passport holders waiting in line, it appeared that the buzz at the time was that it was "easiest" to get a schengen visa from the netherlands consulate. so off i went, filled out the forms, quickly made hotel reservations online for amsterdam..not sure how i handled the flight booking aspect but assume i made "dummy" reservations as well.
they were indeed extremely prompt at the netherlands consulate and mailed the visa to me a couple of days later. i recall being a little apprehensive at entering spain with a schengen visa issued from the consulate of the netherlands, but as it turned out it wasnt a problem at all.
like i said, this information is very dated, so i'm not recommending you necessarily go the same route.
good luck and i hope you get to enjoy spain!

Moving this thread to the Europe forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
TravelBuzz co-moderator

...whilst speaking to other non-US passport holders waiting in line, it appeared that the buzz at the time was that it was "easiest" to get a schengen visa from the netherlands consulate. so off i went, filled out the forms, quickly made hotel reservations online for amsterdam..not sure how i handled the flight booking aspect but assume i made "dummy" reservations as well.
they were indeed extremely prompt at the netherlands consulate and mailed the visa to me a couple of days later. i recall being a little apprehensive at entering spain with a schengen visa issued from the consulate of the netherlands, but as it turned out it wasnt a problem at all.
like i said, this information is very dated, so i'm not recommending you necessarily go the same route.
good luck and i hope you get to enjoy spain!An ex-colleague of mine claims the same thing. He's in SFO and says it's easier at any of the Benelux consulates. Of course, like you this happened quite a while ago (pre 9-11) and he's become a US citizen since then so is unaware of the current situation.