Schengen visa refused but my husband's was granted

Question

My Schengen visa application at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Pakistan was refused. I have submitted an appeal, stating all my reasons for traveling there. My application reached Dutch Immigration Service (IND) on 2 May 2017 and under consideration.

I have to travel with my husband who received his Schengen visa from the Netherland Embassy in Sudan. He had submitted same documents as I did; his was approved, and visas for me and my children were refused.

Although I have appealed, the issue is that time is very short as we're supposed to leave on 25 May, returning on 8 June. There's only one week left and no word decision from IND.

Is there anything else we can do?

Additional info, posted as answer by OP

My husband applied from different consulate because he is presently with a UN peacekeeping mission, he has an official passport, and it was easier for to apply in Sudan. The only viable reason I found in our refusals is that we applied earlier than him and my husband had not yet received his Schengen visa and the hotel bookings and flight reservations are in my husband's name. However, in the appeal, I have mentioned all these details.

Will my hotel bookings and tickets be cancelled if they don't give a decision before 25 May 2017? If they do approve my appeal, what will be the valid dates of the visa?

Answer 1

I am afraid I only have bad news.

Appeals tend to take much longer than applications, it's not merely a more rigorous process, it's a completely different process, possibly handled directly in the sending country not at the consulate. And new evidence is not necessarily needed nor useful, appeals are mostly recommended when you have no other option and want to use a point of law. I don't know about the Netherlands in particular but appeals are often intended to determine whether the decision was the right one based on the documentation presented to the consulate, not to examine new elements of fact.

Furthermore, airlines, hotels, and even travel insurance rarely care about your visa situation. Unless you booked a fully flexible ticket, they are unlikely to give you a refund or allow you to postpone the trip. As far as they are concerned, showing up with the right documentation on the date agreed is entirely your problem. I would still try to contact them, I have heard of people getting a refund on a fare that wasn't supposed to be refundable after having been refused a visa but I would not count on it.

Worse, in the unlikely event that your appeal would be received positively and the initial decision overturned, it would be entirely possible for the Dutch consulate not to issue a visa on the grounds that the date for your trip has already passed. Again, I don't know enough about Dutch law and practices in particular but I have seen this type of things in other European countries.

All in all, with new evidence, a new application would have more chances of success. But even that is fraught with difficulties and unlikely to be fast enough now.

Answer 2

According to the European Commission FAQ, normal processing of a Schengen visa take sup to about three weeks, and can be extended.

8 How long does the visa procedure take?

As a general rule, once a Schengen visa application is submitted to the Consulate, a decision is taken by the Consulate within 15 calendar days. This period may be extended up to 30 days or 60 days.

One should reasonably estimate that an appeal would take similar or even longer time because appeal processes are typically more rigorous and hence unfortunately it was a bit of a stretch to appeal at the time you did and expect a result before your trip start date. You could reach out to them by phone or email however that usually goes ignored or gets a boilerplate response. Furthermore in Pakistan the visa process is ring fenced by VFS so penetrating the barrier to get a response without legal representation is a challenge.

Telephone Dutch Embassy in Islamabad:> +92 (0) 51 2004 444

Fax Dutch Embassy in Islamabad: +92 (0) 51 2004 333

E-mail Dutch Embassy in Islamabad: [email protected]

Additionally:

Will my hotel bookings and tickets be cancelled if they don't give a decision before 25 May 2017? If they do approve my appeal, what will be the valid dates of the visa?

You have to proactively cancel the bookings and tickets yourself otherwise your account/credit card will be charged. With Schengen visas it is advised you just do a booking to use for the visa application but do not pay/confirm until you have received the visa. The embassy does not care if you cancel the tickets/hotel before the visa is issued. At this point nobody knows the validity dates they will put on the visa if it is issued.