Relaxation on validity of UK visa requirement while applying for Schengen Visa to Italy

Question

Me and my wife (both Indian passport holders, living in UK) have booked a trip for December from 22-12-18 to 1-01-19. Its our wedding anniversary during the trip. I had initially referred Italy official site for visa requirements and some research before booking hotels and flights. Total of 8 days in Italy and 3 in France with France as the last destination. The flight is on ryan air, which is non refundable (500 euros) . The connecting trains between UK, Italy & France also have been booked. Also the hotels as well.

Recently while I searched for visa requirements I saw that the travel document i.e our passport need to be valid for the next 90 days at least. The passports are valid for couple more years. But after booking everything and when scheduling the appointment at VFS London for 26th November, I came to know that the UK visa needs to have a minimum validity of 90 days from the return day of the trip. Since our UK visa currently expires in March, ours fall short by 15 days. (The employer may extend our UK work visa, but that is only known at the end of December.) Even the consular handbook document available online says only about the passport as the travel document and its validity. About 1500 pounds have been spend so far and all the other visa requirements have been satisfied.

TLDR;

UK visa is valid only for 75 days after return day of the trip from Schenge area. Is there a way that we can avoid getting the Italy Schengen visa application rejected to avoid losing all the money and missing this big holiday?

Reference

1. VFS website UK Residence permit, endorsed in the passport or issued as a Biometrics card, must be valid for at least 90 days beyond the return date of the trip to the Schengen Area.

2. Consular handbook

3. Yes I did read this post

Answer 1

The validity requirement on the passport is to make sure that you can leave again even if there are delays.

The validity requirement on the residence permit serves two purposes.

• It makes it more credible that you would want to leave the Schengen area again, back to the UK and not directly to India.
• It makes sure that people apply at the consulate which is best prepared to evaluate their ties to the homeland. A consulate in the UK might have a hard time evaluating Indian bank statements.

The latter requirement can be overcome if the need to travel came up suddenly and if the consulate agrees that it would be undue hardship for you to apply from your homeland. You have no right to get accepted as a hardship case, but they have the right to consider your application if they want.

The key factor would be that your decision to visit the Schengen area was made after you left your homeland, and then you have to make it plausible that you would leave the Schengen area again. That's easier for an UK resident than for an Indian resident.

Answer 2

After reasearching on the internet, I came to the conclusion that its better to email the Italian consulate regarding the matter.

I emailed them and they replied saying that they can exceptionally issue a visa till the end date of the BRP card validity (ie our UK visa validity) to facilitate our holiday.

I took the print out of this emailand attached it as proof when I applied through VFS in UK. The VFS agent did infact ask about the email reply when she realized that the BRP card was about to expire in less than 90 days.

NB: All my other documentations where pretty solid as well. Kudos to O.M who helped me figure out the fact to keep every documentation solid.