Once a Schengen visa is issued can the embassy reopen the file and check documents again for validation or is it all done prior to issuing visa?

Question

Once a Schengen visa is issued can the embassy reopen the file and check documents again for validation or is it all done prior to issuing visa?

Answer 1

Once a Schengen visa is issued can the embassy reopen the file and check documents again for validation or is it all done prior to issuing visa?

Consulates are supposed to evaluate the application before issuing a visa. They do not issue “provisional” visas pending verification or routinely reevaluate prior decisions so it is indeed all done prior to issuing the visa.

This may however be a bit of a false alternative. While uncommon, there is a procedure to revoke Schengen visas if a visa holder ceases to meet the requirements for their visa. So if new information of any kind surfaces (including, in some countries, a change to your hotel bookings), there is nothing stopping a consulate from doing that.

Similarly, border guards are legally empowered to check visitors meet all the requirements for the visa. They typically do not look into your situation as thoroughly as the consulates do but they can check the same information again and decide to refuse entry or revoke the visa if they think you do not meet the requirements anymore. Revocation means that the visa ceases to be valid but it doesn't imply any wrongdoing on your part.

Finally, border guards are unlikely to know or care about the exact documents you submitted with your application but if they do notice any evidence of fraud, they are even supposed to annul the visa and inform the country that issued it. Annulment is distinct from revocation in that it means that you should never have gotten the visa in the first place. There is a special stamp in the passport and it is also recorded in the VIS, which can definitely have consequences on future applications.

Answer 2

In the normal course of things and probably the vast majority of cases, see Relaxed's answer.

However, it may be worth noting that we have seen multiple reports of consulates contacting the recipient of a visa if hotel reservations are cancelled (or even simply modified), threatening to revoke the visa, or actually doing so.

This is quite country specific. Most Schengen Area countries do not track this at all, but a few seem to be very keen on that.

I believe we only have seen such reports for hotel bookings, not for other types of bookings (e.g. flights), but of course we may just not be aware of it.

Of course, if any information comes to light showing that there was a problem with the documentation (for instance they notice in another application that documents issued by some third party are fraudulent, and decide to revisit all applications they can find which used similar documents), the person (a SIS notice is posted for instance), or maybe the reason for the visit (they find out that some event one was supposed to attend does not exist, people going to visit the company you are supposed to visit all vanish and overstay...), anything can happen. But this would only apply if there is actually an issue with your application (and in this case they would probably annul rather than revoke the visa).

TL;DR: They probably won't re-check things spontaneously for no reason. But if they get information that anything changed or is wrong/suspicious, they can of course revisit things.