I'm planning to travel with my family for 10-12 days within the Schengen area. I'm from India and intend to visit my office colleagues in Spain for fun and networking, as many of them reside there. Although my company is based in Germany, employees work remotely from various locations.Could you advise on the type of visa I should apply for?
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1A short-stay Schengen visa isn't issued in different classes, such as ‘tourism’ or ‘business’. If your intention is just to meet up socially with your colleagues, getting an invitation from the company seems unnecessary. Why would the company issue an invitation to someone who doesn’t work for them?– TravellerCommented Apr 9 at 15:42
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Does this answer your question? Schengen Visa Application: what are some helpful tips for preparing?– TravellerCommented Apr 9 at 15:47
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@Traveller I work for the company .... they can give me invitation– sahilCommented Apr 9 at 15:51
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1Would you be planning to make this trip without the prospect of networking with your colleagues? You should select the principal reason for your visit and provide the documentation relevant to that. See this question for a similar debate on purpose.– TravellerCommented Apr 9 at 16:13
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1@sahil Your sister's trip will be evaluated on its own merit. I know VFS often forces people to chose between tourism and business but with the original Schengen application form, you could pick several categories or check “other” and write something. If the trip is complicated, you can also join a letter with some explanation.– RelaxedCommented Apr 9 at 17:12
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I'm uncertain whether to apply for a business visa or a tourist visa
In a comment you mention ”Main purpose is meeting with my company colleagues as it’s a retreat where my team is going to meet and my company will reimburse later”.
A short-stay Schengen visa isn't issued in different classes such as ‘tourism’ or ‘business’, and it’s perfectly normal / extremely common to add some time for tourism onto a business trip. The application form asks for Main purpose(s) of the journey, allowing you to select both ‘Business’ and ‘Tourism’ as an accurate and truthful description of your itinerary.
The process for a business visa seems complex, requiring numerous documents from the company, which could be challenging.
Apart from the invitation letter, I’m not quite sure what you mean by ’numerous documents from the company’. All short-stay visa applicants have to provide travel medical insurance and documents corroborating the purpose of travel, the specifics of the stay, that the visa applicant has sufficient financial means, as well as the intention of the visa applicant to leave the Schengen area before the visa expires.
How to apply Schengen visa as a sibling
As @Relaxed’s comment says, your sister's trip will be evaluated on its own merit. To link the two applications, in section 24 (Additional information on purpose of stay) of your application you can give your sister’s name/passport number and state that she will be travelling with you, and your sister can cross-reference your details in her own application. You can provide any further explanation in your respective covering letters.
