What happens if I don't submit the additional documents that the embassy is asking?

Question

So I applied for a Schengen visa at the German embassy. I will be going to Munich, Berlin, and Prague in May and I presented my airbnb accommodations for each city and my roundtrip plane ticket as well. Everything went well, except that the interviewer suddenly asked me how I would go from Munich to Berlin and Berlin to Prague. I hastily answered "by train" (because that was what I am planning to do anyway), to which she replied "then you also need to show me your train ticket confirmation." After processing my other documents and paying the visa fee, all was well and she told me I could claim my passport on Thursday, but I also have to submit the train tickets by then.

I am kind of pissed at myself for not asking why it was necessary. Perhaps I did not want to risk rejection of my application. When I applied for a Schengen visa for my Italy trip last year, the Italian embassy did not ask for train ticket for my Milan to Rome trip. I plan my trips but not to the point that I buy train tickets two months in advance. I was planning to buy those on the day itself.

It seems that nothing can be done right now, except to follow instructions. However, I am just curious, what could they possibly do if I do not present the train tickets on Thusday? Would they hold my passport? Would they rip off the schengen visa [which I assume is] pasted on it?

Also, anyone from you who experienced being asked for the inter-city train tickets?

Answer 1

I don't think this fully makes sense legally, but what they could do in practice is invalidate the visa. They would not hold onto the passport indefinitely and they should certainly not start ripping off pages. But there are a number of situations where cancelling a visa is the proper course of action and there is a procedure for that.

Specifically, a Schengen visa can be either “revoked” or “annulled”. A visa should be revoked when the conditions for issuing it no longer apply and you are not allowed to enter the Schengen area using this visa anymore but there is no suggestion of foul play or anything. A visa should be annulled if it should never have been issued in the first place and in particular if there was some fraud involved. The latter is obviously more serious.

Consulates and border guards should have cancellation stamps (in the country's language) to put in your passport and they would also update the relevant database (called the VIS) so that your visa would be flagged as invalid. This also means that they can still decide to invalidate the visa even after you have recovered your passport. In that case, the cancellation would not be immediately visible (e.g. to an airline agent inspecting the passport) but (most) border guards would still know that you are not allowed to enter.