Will I be able to get a multiple Schengen visa if I have only planned one trip?

Question

I am from South Africa and am in London for work on a 6 month contract and would like to travel around Europe on the odd weekend. I am planning a trip to France soon but when I apply for a Schengen I would like to get a multiple entry Schengen as I would like to travel at a later stage. Would I be able to get a multiple Schengen if I have only planned 1 trip?

Secondly, I have about 4 and a half months left on my UK work visa so could I get a Schengen to be valid up to this date or at least close to it?

Answer 1

I take you're talking about multiple-entry visa and not multiple Schengen visas. It solely depends on the embassy, but if you're on work-permit UK visa, you're likely to get a multiple entry one anyway but it depends how long it's gonna be. I used to get multiple-entry for 5 days. But if you apply for the Schengen visa in the UK the Schengen only valid until the end of your UK visa and it has to be more than 3 months before your UK visa expired. My advice would be ask for the maximum you wanted to be and show then a lot of money in your bank account (e.g, 30 Euros per day), also travel insurance. You can write in the application that you're asking for 3-month multiple entry if the embassy thinks that it's not ok at least they will give the amount of your planned trip. For example, if you're planning to go to France for 5 days and you asked for 3 months. The worst case scenario is you'll get one-entry for 5 days to France.