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I'm a PhD student in the UK, with a history of not finding any visa appointments to go to an international conference. I have an upcoming summer school in Germany, and although I could not find a single appointment for a German visa, I managed to get an appointment for a Lithuania visa (tourism) for the day after tomorrow. I have a few questions:

  1. How long do I need to stay in Lithuania? Does it have to be greater than my stay in Germany (which is 7 days)?

  2. Does Lithuania have to be my first point of entry? Does it have to be my point of departure? In my visa appointment I need to show return tickets to the UK. So could it be of the following forms?

UK-> Lithuania -> Germany -> UK

or

UK -> Germany -> Lithuania -> UK

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    Does this answer your question? At which embassy should I apply for a Schengen visa when staying a few days in several countries?
    – Traveller
    Commented Apr 10 at 13:32
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    Lithuania should be the most important focus of your trip (no need to arrive or depart from there). But the "I had no intention of visiting Lithuania" is not a good start. I would avoid such things, A visa refusal is much worst (and could affect also future visa for UK). Try hard to find an appointment. Try to do some short holidays in Schengen area (with more flexible periods) to gain some more general entry visa (so not a short term plan)
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Apr 10 at 13:33
  • @GiacomoCatenazzi I understand what you are saying. What if I planned a week-long trip to Lithuania for the month of May/June, and apply for a double entry Schengen visa, with the intention of flying to Germany in July?
    – Smooth Alpert Frame
    Commented Apr 10 at 14:21
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    @NotEuler If you can get a multi-entry visa and have the money to travel to Europe twice, that's also an option. Lithuania is very beautiful (all three Baltic countries are) and your second trip can be anywhere else in the Schengen Area.
    – Johnnyjanko
    Commented Apr 10 at 14:57
  • @Johnnyjanko I've heard that the multiple entry has some prerequisites to getting it so I'm thinking double entry. If I intend to stay in Germany for a week, how long does my Lithuania stay have to be minimum? Also, if I plan Lithuania in May/June and Germany in July, does that work in terms of visa validity?
    – Smooth Alpert Frame
    Commented Apr 10 at 15:10

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You're not really asking the right questions. The reason your travel is taking place is the summer school so Germany is your main destination. Legally speaking, this is unambiguous.

Consequently you are simply not supposed to apply to for a visa from Lithuania and Lithuania should decline to process the visa and refer you to the German consulate instead. There is no point devising some other scheme as you are doing in the comments, the answer will always remain the same.

In practice, the main problem you will face is how to present your trip: If you do not disclose the summer school in Germany, do not provide an invitation letter, etc. you are engaging in deception and it could backfire badly (visa refusal). If you are upfront about it, Lithuania is likely to decline to process your application (not bad but you would be back to square one, without a visa).

Length of stay, etc. only come into play if you try to hide the nature of your trip and try to pretend this is a purely touristic trip, which it is not.

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  • This only means OP has to convince himself first that Lithuania is his main destination, right?
    – Jan
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:15
  • @Jan That's one way to look at it. Alternatively, if you book tickets to Lithuania, a two-week hotel stay, and don't talk about Germany at all, you may get away with the fraud. I just don't see anything in-between.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:21
  • @Relaxed I see the term "fraud" being thrown around a lot in this context. I'm assuming they come from privileged members of the western world who have never faced the struggle of visa refusal. Us less fortunate people of a third world country face discrimination despite outstanding academic record, for something that is simply out of our control.
    – Smooth Alpert Frame
    Commented Apr 10 at 22:16
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    The rules as to where you should apply for your Schengen visa exist for two reasons: To spread the workload in a fair way over the different countries, and to avoid visa shopping. The OP wants to do exactly that: visa shopping. And while I can understand why, (and I understand the frustration off those that have to jump to all kinds of hoops to visit Europe) it is still against the rules, and can indeed backfire badly.
    – Krist van Besien
    Commented Apr 11 at 5:04
  • @NotEuler While I recognise your frustration, the rules that determine which country should process an application apply to everyone. There is no discrimination inherent in that rule. If you have a history of not finding any visa appointments to go to an international conference perhaps you should have planned further in advance for a summer school trip, given there’s a 6 month window to apply and by their nature such events take place during peak holiday season.
    – Traveller
    Commented Apr 11 at 7:26

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