7

I am an Indian citizen living in the USA. I have to travel to Spain on Nov 15 from San Francisco for a business trip. However, there are no appointment dates available at the consulate of Spain in San Francisco for the months of October and November.

What is the best way to get a Spanish business visa (Schengen-visa) by Nov 15? If not possible, what is the best way to enter Spain via another Schengen visa (Portugal, Germany etc)?

Improve this question
3

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

Althought this answer may sounds biased, the shortest answer for this is:

Spain has ongoing elections on november/december and almost every consulate and embasssy is fully dedicated to the elections,concretely, to prevent as many overseas-living people from voting, by not giving any type of help at all and blocking schedules.

Your best chances are trying to contact the embassy in whashington DC and apply for a schengen visa link , or better, contact any other consulate ( italy, france, germany, portugal) and get a schengen visa from them.

sources on my "blocking electoral process" claims:

regional elections

2015 national elections

late 2015 national elections re-run

Among them, the Spanish General Consul in Los Angeles Javier Vallaure said he did not receive the administrative forms in time, like many other citizens living in the U.S. In the end, only 400 Spaniards in Los Angeles were able to vote, out of 8,400 registered voters.

So good luck given the possibilty of a 3rd election re-run. i'd get a schengen visa from any other schengen state, it will be valid in spain and you don't have to spend all your time in your "main destination country"

The Schengen Agreement establishes a unified type of visa for short stays (up to 90 days) for the participant European countries: GERMANY, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, DENMARK, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, SPAIN, ESTONIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GREECE, HUNGARY, ICELAND, ITALY, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, LUXEMBOURG, MALTA, NORWAY, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, PORTUGAL, CZECH REPUBLIC, SWEDEN AND SWITZERLAND. A Schengen Visa issued by an Embassy or Consulate of the aforementioned countries allows the holder to travel freely in all these countries. It will be issued by the Embassy or Consulate of the country of your main destination, the one where you will spend the longest period of time.

Improve this answer
5
  • 2
    While I can believe that the Spanish Consulates are mired in a bureaucratic logjam that prevents many Spanish citizens overseas from voting, it's hard to see how preventing tourists from visiting helps them in their alleged quest to prevent Spaniards from voting. Anyway, another Schengen consulate is not supposed to issue a visa in this case, as there are well-defined rules for which Schengen country is competent to process particular applications, and another country will not receive an application for a trip that doesn't involve their territory.
    – Zach Lipton
    Oct 11, 2016 at 7:11
  • From my personal ( family in scotland) experience, they just fill all the schedules with fake appointments so you have to call or be present phisically to be given (if any) response. They had to go to London's embassy, and i'd say it will be the same in most countries embassies. He can always fly to portugal and spend one extra night on it.
    – CptEric
    Oct 11, 2016 at 7:13
  • Yes, voting in Spanish elections in an odyssey with multiple absurd steps. However, you don't have to book any hour in consulates to do all the bureaucracy to vote: all that is required can be done in dependencies that just work with a basic queue (whomever arriving first in the morning, gets it). These dependencies do not have anything to do with those arranging visas, so I don't think this is the issue here.
    – fedorqui
    Oct 11, 2016 at 8:00
  • afaik, the queue in the embassies is because consulates are virtually full, though my sources ( family member living in edimburgh) may be a special case.
    – CptEric
    Oct 11, 2016 at 12:42
  • I don't know if the previous comment is addressed to me, but it is worth mentioning that you need to use @user if you want to reply to someone. Otherwise, no notification will be sent.
    – fedorqui
    Oct 11, 2016 at 13:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .