Can I expect problems after entering Schengen through main destination but leaving from another state?

Question

I have been issued my first Schengen visa (7 days) so please excuse my lack of understanding. Visa label says it is valid for ESTADOS SCHENGEN.

I applied via Spain as I am to attend a conference there. I will most certainly be entering the Schengen area from Barcelona. I will also be spending three nights in the city, so thus the most amount of time during my visit to the Schengen area.

From there I am to proceed to the Netherlands in order to attend a meeting at my company's HQ. I will spend two nights there. The final night I wish to spend in Paris before exiting the Schengen area from Paris.

My concern is the following: My application for the Schengen visa does not mention onward travel to the Netherlands or France. The air ticket I had submitted when applying also had me exiting from Barcelona on the final day.

I have just booked my tickets where by I enter the Schengen area through Barcelona and exit through France on the specified days. I'm wondering if I might run into any troubles with immigration in Paris on the way out. I'm also a bit worried due to the fact that I am from a country that many would consider high-risk for not complying with visa conditions. (Pakistan).

Any help in clearing up these doubts will be much appreciated. I still have a month to go before I travel so there is ample time to clear up my itinerary should this cause any problems for me.

Answer 1

This will be absolutely fine. When you apply for the visa you should share your planned itinerary, but this can change afterwards (as seems to be the case for you). If your plans had changed hugely (say, you applied for a visa to attend a conference in Spain, then tried to use it to go on holiday in Finland), you could expect to have problems. This isn't the case for you.

You've applied for and received a visa to attend a conference in Spain. Your plans have changed somewhat, but Spain is still your primary destination (your main purpose is attending the conference in Spain, and you're spending longer in Spain than in any other country). If you're asked whether your plans have changed, you can answer honestly that since applying for the visa you have added a meeting to your schedule after the conference - this is a fairly regular occurrence for people travelling for business purposes and won't cause you any problems. There's nothing unusual about leaving the Schengen zone from a different country than where you arrived - you might face questions if the country issuing your visa were far away from both arrival and departure points (say, arriving in Spain and leaving from France on a Latvian-issued visa), but after arriving in Spain on a Spanish visa you don't need to worry about that. You'll have no trouble entering or leaving the Schengen zone.