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I'm in Indian National living in Ireland on a student visa which expires in October, 2016. I wanted to travel to Greece to meet my girlfriend who is Greek, so I booked tickets for August, 2016.

I didn't know back then that my Irish visa needs to be valid for at least 3 months on the date when I get the Schengen visa, so I can't get a visa starting from August since it's less than 3 months and now I stand to lose all my plane ticket money since the flight is non refundable.

If I book a refundable ticket to Greece for July, and use that for the visa application, then finally cancel it once I get the visa, and travel in August, will this be possible? Or will I be stopped at the immigration in Greece because I would be traveling a month later?

And if I do this, would I need two invitation letters from my girlfriend, inviting me to stay over, one for the visa application and one which I'll carry with me for August?

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    There's always a chance that your visa will be limited in duration so that it expires before your August trip. But if it isn't, then your plan might work.
    – phoog
    Jun 4, 2016 at 5:58
  • Are you sure the condition is that your current residence has to be valid for three months after issuance of the visa? I can't find an explicit rule either way in the Visa Code, but the corresponding rule about passport validity counts from the expiry date of the visa.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Jun 4, 2016 at 11:21
  • That's what I thought when I bought the ticket, but when I called the embassy of Greece, they said a valid visa of the country where I'm currently resident for at least 3 months is a requirement.
    – harpresing
    Jun 4, 2016 at 13:08

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If your visa would still be valid by August, it's perfectly fine to go to Greece then.

However the Greek consulate will likely issue a limited-validity visa that would only be valid for July, unless it's not your first Schengen visa.

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