Lost in the system - Schengen Tourist vs. Business Visa

I will keep this short (and somewhat snappy)

I have multiple entry Schengen Tourist Visa from Italian Consulate, valid until 28/10 (acquired through exercising spouse of British national).

I have a conference to go to in Germany on the 2nd week of Oct; I went to German Consulate to get the Business Visa, and were told they can't issue business visa while my tourist visa is still valid.

Gave me two choices
1) Go back to Italian Consulate, and ask them to cancel it and then come back to German consulate for business visa
2) Take my spouse to Germany with me on the conference (really ?)

So, went for option 1- asked Italian consulate to cancel my visa and given the reply as ' They can cancel it if I haven't used the visa' (which I already have) or if I have used it, I pretty much have no choice.

The system is crippled and bonkers, I'm telling you.

Any help and wisdom around?

Thanks

Your spouse have to accompany/join only if you cross the border to the schengen area.
Inside its working as a normal schengen visa valid in the whole schengen area.

Thank you for the reply.

I kind of know what you mean, but my apologies- I should have mentioned earlier that I am based in UK.

Due to the visa codex the visa can be revoked (not annulled) on behalf of the owner.
The request has to be in writing.
Even the germans have the right to revoke it. They have to inform the italians afterwards.

Italian Consulate replied with following

It is not possible to cancel it. You can apply for a German Schengen Visa starting from the first day after the expiration date of the previous one.

This is very contradicting.

I just play by rules and seems like I'm getting the beating here. How hard is to cancel tourist visa and get the business one ? Pretty annoyed now

I can just ravel to Munich on my Schengen Tourist Visa (family) without my partner and see how it goes ? Any experience around that?

What is written to the remarks sections at the visa sticker?

In the remarks section it says

Type C Tourismo Visa, with remarks as GF/Gratis / Familiari U. E

A visa for a family member of a EU citizen is not defined as a tourist visa.
You can try it, but there is no guarantee.

Crimbo111 wrote:I will keep this short (and somewhat snappy)

I have multiple entry Schengen Tourist Visa from Italian Consulate, valid until 28/10 (acquired through exercising spouse of British national).

I have a conference to go to in Germany on the 2nd week of Oct; I went to German Consulate to get the Business Visa, and were told they can't issue business visa while my tourist visa is still valid.

Gave me two choices
1) Go back to Italian Consulate, and ask them to cancel it and then come back to German consulate for business visa
2) Take my spouse to Germany with me on the conference (really ?)

So, went for option 1- asked Italian consulate to cancel my visa and given the reply as ' They can cancel it if I haven't used the visa' (which I already have) or if I have used it, I pretty much have no choice.

The system is crippled and bonkers, I'm telling you.

Any help and wisdom around?

Thanks

If you already have a Type C visa, my understanding is that you'd be able to use it for short term travel for either tourism or business purposes. This was the written response I received when I enquiried. http://www.immigrationboards.com/europe ... 53662.html
I don't however know know whether there would be any restrictions due to the visa vignette remarks you've mentioned. But you may get clarification if you write to the schengen helpline and enquire.

A visa for a family member of eu citizen is also issued as a schengen visa type C.
It depends how the border officer interpret the remarks sections.
Crimbo111 has both in the remark section which is not the normal case.

Thank you both- I've sent in the enquiry email. Waiting for response now

This is interesting. The endorsement in your visa is exactly the same as the one my wife received, except her visa was not free (the meaning of gratis of course).

Can you confirm your tourist visa was free in accordance with your EU treaty rights, or did you pay a visa fee?

For reference, I'm talking to SOLVIT about this:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/europe ... 15823.html

mgb wrote:A visa for a family member of eu citizen is also issued as a schengen visa type C.
It depends how the border officer interpret the remarks sections.
Crimbo111 has both in the remark section which is not the normal case.

Yes, agree it would depend on the interpretation of the remarks.

In case it helps anyone, when my first type c schengen visa was issued (i.e. the one requested for business travel purposes), in addition to the type of visa being marked as "C", there was a note under the remarks section "visit business visa - employment not permitted". I did however use that same visa for entering the Schengen area, both as a tourist and a business visitor. I did this after getting written clarification beforehand.

mpkayeuk wrote: Can you confirm your tourist visa was free in accordance with your EU treaty rights, or did you pay a visa fee?

This was my 4th Schengen Visa, applied through exercising my EU treaty rights - I've always been given free visa, and I've always applied directly to consulates (France, Spain, Italian). Just can't deal with VFS really. Hope that helps.

Having gone though briefly to your topic- we got married in UK; so never had problem with marriage certificate. But you're right how they concluded your visa application i.e. taking fees and still giving visa without minimal documentation - which pretty much contradicts everything.

What did you do in the end? I'm in a similar situation now where I have a valid multiple entry type C tourist visa that says 'familiari eu' but I'd like to travel to Spain without my spouse.