When to visit both the Schengen area and the UK, which visa should be obtained first?

Question

I am from India. My wife has traveled to UK for a year for work. I am planning to go to UK in May 2016 and will be staying for three months. We want to visit multiple Schengen countries i.e. France, Spain, Germany, etc. I have read the Schengen visa document and everywhere it is mentioned we need to show a flight reservation and the country from where we will enter Schengen territory.

I am confused in this part as in I can't show them any reservation as I will be travelling from London.

So what document shall I show to the embassy for this?

Do I have to show them any travel document from London?

And do I also need to show them my London return ticket as well?

Also please correct me here:

1. I need to take a UK visa first from India.
2. Apply for a Schengen visa immediately from India. I will apply at the French Embassy as that will be first country I will visit.

Answer 1

If your question is about which visa to apply for first, it makes no difference, however I would suggest you apply for the UK visa first as it seems to take less time (3 days) on average to process than the Schengen visa which requires you to go submit biometric data and can take up to 15 days.

As for the travel reservations, it's enough to show them proof of how you're getting there, in your case from the UK a train or flight reservation is enough. They also want to make sure you're leaving the Schengen area, so again a flight out of France should be sufficient.

If you're going back to the UK after Schengen, just make sure your UK visa covers that and you have another flight out of the UK. This is really all they want to know, that you're not planning to stay.