I need to travel often to conferences in Europe and it is a pain getting a new visa every time (going to the consulate, paying a fee, and all the hassle). I want to apply for a long term Schengen visa. I am an Indian citizen living in the US. I have previous Schengen visas, tourist and work visas. What are some good options for me to apply for a long term visa? Ideally Germany is the most relevant option for me because perhaps I can get a letter from a university saying that I want to collaborate with them making frequent visits necessary.
2 Answers
Have you tried applying again? This is what happened to me, when I applied for visas (all for conferences, like yourself):
- First visa, 14 days (exact days of the conference), single entry.
- Second visa, 60 days, multiple entry.
- Third visa, 6 months, multiple entry.
- Fourth visa, 1 year, multiple entry.
Each time, I applied for the exact duration of the conference and single entry (which is really all I needed).
In fact, I just used the same PDF application and changed the travel dates (all these visas were from the same member state).
My friend, who visits exponentially more often than I do, applied last time and got a visa for the duration of his passport validity(!) which was 5 years.
answered Sep 7, 2017 at 5:49
Usually multiple-entry, long-validity visa are granted after a number of successful visits (no overstays, etc.) on shorter visas. There are always people who look at statistics which Schengen countries are most likely to grant those, but twisting your itinerary to apply at one of those countries will make the application look less coherent.
