My wife and I have been invited by my employer to attend their annual employee event to be held in France. My wife works in a different organization, but have received a business invite from my employer to join the event/conference.
Our plan is to visit a friend in Germany for 4 days and then to proceed to France for the event (6 days)
Both of us applied together at the France Embassy, for a business visa the first time, but both of us got rejected. ("Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable." was the reason provided)
I applied alone the second time around and got the visa. But now my wife's visit is in jeopardy.
Problem:
The letter from my wife's employer mentions "tourism" as the purpose of visit, but the application she made is for Business visa (since she has a business visa invite from my employer). Her employer is not ready to change the "purpose of their visit" under any circumstances and hence we have no other option in this regard.
I am keen on re-applying for her visa, but given the above problem, I am not very hopeful that she'll get a visa.
I also thought of having our friend in Germany provide her with an invite, so that she can apply for a German tourist visa this time, but I read that Schengen states share the history of applications between them, so it might be a red flag to first apply for a Business visa and then a tourist visa in quick succession.
What options do we have now? Any suggestions on how to proceed with this case would be highly appreciated :)
