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I am planning to go to Amsterdam on May 20, 2018 from New Delhi, India. However, when I tried to apply for a visa appointment with the Netherlands VFS in Delhi, the earliest appointment date was May 9. Since the visa processing time is 2 to 3 weeks, it doesn't make sense for me to schedule an appointment as the departure date is too close to the appointment date.

So can I apply for my visa through the German VFS, as I can get an earlier appointment date there? My port of entry and exit would be Amsterdam, and yes, I will be travelling to Germany and other EU countries as well, but my main duration of stay would be in Amsterdam. Around 8 to 9 days there, 3 in Germany and so on.

Everywhere it's written that you have to apply for your visa at the country where you will be staying the most or the port of entry. But here, I will be applying through the German VFS and staying the most in the Netherlands and the port of entry and exit is Amsterdam.

user76569
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3 Answers3

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No. Generally, only one Schengen country is competent to receive your application, and the others will send it back to you if you've submitted to the wrong place. As described here:

You must apply for the visa at a mission of the Schengen country of your journey’s main destination or the Schengen country where you intend to stay the longest. If you will be staying an equal length of time in more than one Schengen country and cannot designate one of these countries as the country of your main destination, you must apply for your visa at the mission of the first Schengen country you intend to enter.

Your main destination is generally where you intend to stay the longest (or the first for equal lengths), though if you're traveling mainly for some particular purpose (e.g. a conference in Germany), you might convince that country it is your main destination.

To apply for a visa from Germany, you'd need to change your itinerary to actually make Germany the main destination of your trip.

Zach Lipton
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In addition to what Zach wrote, Consulates in India are wary of 'visa shopping' (applying to countries within Schengen more likely to give you a visa). In theory, you can make a `dummy' itinerary showing more days in Germany and might get away with it, but there is always a possibility it can be checked - if, for e.g. the hotel in Germany says you're booked for 3 days and not 8, your visa can be denied.

MadHatter
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Deans
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yes apply for visa at vfs generally they say 2 to 3 weeks but after appointment visa comes within a week if all documents is in order .the visa you apply which country where you first go and visa is multicity

Manohar Gandhi
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