Help needed please; greek visa.

Hi, my friend is S African and holds a permanent residency here in the UK. We have booked a holiday to Kos but he has since received a letter from the Greek embassy in London telling him that they have moved his appointment for a visa back till after the holiday! He has contacted them by e-mail, letter, and telephone and is getting nowhere. My questions are-

- Is it possible to get a visa for Greece some other way?... A multi country one that doesn't involve the Greek embassy or something?

- Does anybody know any quick ways of getting appointments at the Greek embassy?

- What’s the likely outcome if he tries to fly out there without a visa?


Thanks.

- Is it possible to get a visa for Greece some other way?... A multi country one that doesn't involve the Greek embassy or something?

He can try other Schengen Area embassies, I think. Although they all have different rules (some require return tickets to be bought already; others do not), they should be able to issue a Schengen visa which he can use to go to Greece.

- Does anybody know any quick ways of getting appointments at the Greek embassy?

Bribery....or sell his body to the officer.

- What’s the likely outcome if he tries to fly out there without a visa?

Arrested, deported to his home country (NOT to the UK) ...looks like a complete idiot who should know the immigration rules if he is already settled in the UK? If they're nice (but they shouldn't be for any reason), they might just slap his wrist...but imagine coming to the UK without the required visa? What do you suppose the immigration officers (would) do? Actually...can he even board the plane without the visa!?!

I've been doing some reading, and i think he can get a muti trip visa for france, go to greece for 7 days on the pretence that he's then going to france for a longer period. He would have to actually pay and book tickets and accomadtion for france as proof of intent, but assuming moneys no problem would this be a viable solution?

ian_moss58 wrote:I've been doing some reading, and i think he can get a muti trip visa for france, go to greece for 7 days on the pretence that he's then going to france for a longer period. He would have to actually pay and book tickets and accomadtion for france as proof of intent, but assuming moneys no problem would this be a viable solution?

I think here he'll run the risk of what's happened to many in the forum:

1. Might only get a single entry.

2. Might have to wait three months for an appointment at the French consulate too, dunno if just me but the delays for schengen visa appointments seem to be getting longer. Although I think the French consulate accepts postal apps from those living outside London.

ian_moss58 wrote: - What’s the likely outcome if he tries to fly out there without a visa?

He will not even be allowed on the plane without a visa, so that's not even a possibility.

With a single entry he could fly from uk to greece, and then greece to france direct? Therfore remaining within the schengen zone, as one entry. Is that how it works?

I've read some companies advertise visas in 3 days. Do these somehow get past the apointment problem?

With a single entry he could fly from uk to greece, and then greece to france direct? Therfore remaining within the schengen zone, as one entry. Is that how it works

Yes! it does work that way.

ian_moss58 wrote:With a single entry he could fly from uk to greece, and then greece to france direct? Therfore remaining within the schengen zone, as one entry. Is that how it works?

I've read some companies advertise visas in 3 days. Do these somehow get past the apointment problem?

Yes - for tourist visa purposes you can think of the Schengen area as if it were one country (although of course it's not in reality). With a singlee-entry Schengen visa one can travel round the Schengen area by land, air or sea as much as one likes within the validity of the visa. What you can't do with a single-entry visa is enter the Schengen area, leave it and re-enter it on the same visa. (Countries not in the Schengen area include the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, and all of the countries that joined the EU in 2004. Non-EU countries that are in the Schengen area are Norway and Iceland.)

As to companies that do the leg-work of getting visas, they might be able to get round the appointment problem, but that depends on the system in place in the embassy or consulate. Travel agents often arrange visas for their customers too. But of course that is only a possibility if a face-to-face interview is not required - in other words, if it's simply a matter of dropping of the forms, fee and passport and then collecting the passport again once it has the visa inside it. Might be worth contacting one though: that doesn't commit you to anything.

Christophe wrote:Countries not in the Schengen area include the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, and all of the countries that joined the EU in 2004.

Neither are the ones that have joined since!

Docterror wrote:

Christophe wrote:Countries not in the Schengen area include the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, and all of the countries that joined the EU in 2004.

Neither are the ones that have joined since!

Yes, you're quite right - Bulgaria and Romania are not. Terrible to say it, but I forgot about them...

In fact, the main one that people forget about for practical purposes is Switzerland (and with it Liechtenstein), which is a "hole" in the Schengen area. Switzerland will be in the Schengen area soon, but it is not yet. People not living in Europe also sometimes assume that the UK and Ireland are in the Schengen area too.

Christophe wrote:In fact, the main one that people forget about for practical purposes is Switzerland (and with it Liechtenstein), which is a "hole" in the Schengen area... People not living in Europe also sometimes assume that the UK and Ireland are in the Schengen area too.

So true! The reason for the entire thing is that unless you are an non-EU/EEA citizen (or affliated with one in any sense of the word), it really is easy to overlook the fact that a zone called the Schengen indeed does exist (or in my case, confuse it for a place in China somewhere close to Shangai) due to relatively easier interpretation of the FMOP Directive (currently the Directive2004/38/EC) by all the countries involved for the EU passport holders!

If I had a penny for everytime I've had to explain to a British (-born) person or other EU citizen about Schengen I would be a rich man! Most EU citizens have never heard of it, or know what it means.

Ok, looks like if he can get a french visa then he might be in with a chance. Thanks for all your advice guys, and indeed i'm british born and had never heard of the schengen agreement before now!