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My wife was just issued a multiple entry visa by France, which is good for one year. Our first trip will be to France, the issuing country. My question is: after we leave the EU and return, must future trips also start in France? Or may we go directly to (say) Greece from the US on a later visit? Thanks!

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Don't forget that the EU and Schengen are different sets of countries. Many countries are in both but some are only members of one or the other. – hippietrail Sep 27 '12 at 5:29
Carl, can you please post your experience? Were you able to use the same visa for your subsequent trips? One of the problems with these question / answer forums is that people ask questions, get answers and then forget to come back and post something that could be of use to others. Thanks. – barbareek Feb 16 at 12:26

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You can enter any country within the Schengen area (25 countries) with no problems. Check the Schengen visa website. I have done that personally before.

Anyway, Out of personal experience, German immigration are not really friendly with this idea. Once in Frankfurt they refused the entry of a friend to the country because she had her visa issued from the Italian Embassy. Anyway after few tears they let her in. Moral of the story, Yes you can enter any Schengen country with your Schengen visa regardless of the issuing country.

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BTW, I issued a schengen visa today from the Greek embassy. I will be going to Italy after two days. I know it is fine and I have done it before and I will confirm it again from Italy :) – HaLaBi Sep 19 '12 at 23:05
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I went to Italy with a schenen visa issued from the greek embassy and everything is fine :) – HaLaBi Sep 26 '12 at 19:36
BTW. if your flight isn't direct, but you have connection in any of Schengen airports, you enter the Schengen zone in that airport. For example many flights from Latin America go via Madrid, no problems entering with Belgian issued visas there. – vartec Sep 27 '12 at 13:13
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The rule is you must get a visa from the country you will be staying the longest time. If you apply a german visa and enter through France, and you will spend most of your time in France, they can refuse you at french immigration. But then, you can get lucky sometimes, and some countries enforce this rule, and some not ... – guigui42 Apr 11 at 6:23
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The source is my coworkers (I work for french embassy). The PAF (French Immigration police) can refuse you the entry (To be frank, it rarely happens, but you should know there is always a risk). The common visa only allows you to travel anywhere ONCE you are inside the Schengen area. – guigui42 May 13 at 0:54
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