Originally Posted by
abcx
If there was some consistency in getting a 2 yr visa that would be great. Over the years I've diverted a lot of my tourist dollars to other countries owing to the difficulties of getting a Schengen visa (as compared to other visas). Suffice to say that if they consistently issued me a 2 yr visa, I'd be buying a lot more of the East Coast to Europe fares that consistently pop up on FT.
I've never received a 2yr Schengen visa though I have had a 1.5 yr residence permit. I've only applied for a Schengen once after that at the Swiss consulate in SF and they were willing to issue a one year visa (I think my residence permit played a big role) but my I-20 expired before the end of the year so they had to cut it short. Let's hope I can get a long visa based on the residence permit.
What residence permit are you talking about? If you mean a student visa in America, then don't expect that to count for very much.
You're likely being denied a longer-validity visa not because they think you're going to disappear in the Alps. It's almost certainly because they don't see (or you've been unable to show) a need for it.