Applying for Schengen Visa in India

[gashwin]

Hi,

I am a US resident ("green card holder") and am currently visiting family in India. On my return to the US, I am planning to visit Italy for a couple of weeks.

I had assumed that I could apply for a Schengen visa in India. However, the Italian Consulate in Mumbai sent me the following email:

"With reference to your e-mail dated 30.01.2008 kindly note that if you are an Indian resident abroad, the Italian Consular authority in your place of residence is territorially competent to issue the visa. Hence you should apply for your visa to the competent Italian Consular authorities in U.S.A. "

Needless to say this is rather annoying. I can't just pop over to the US to get a visa! I've applied for Schengen visas in India in the past, but it's been several years, well before the current VFS visa-outsourcing service started.

Any advice? I am thinking of contacting the Embassy in New Delhi, and also seeing if I can try the Dutch (since part of my travel is via the Netherlands).

[knowledgeable]

Annoying or not those are the rules! Though you may ...

... try with French Consulate in India and see if they can give you the Schengen visa. You surely need to show them your itinerary and reservations which may be cancelled if your plans change. You can also go directly to Italy even if you get your Schengen visa from French consulate.

By the way, there are a lot of such rules in United States as well as India which are not liked and "annoying". However, those are rules and you gotta follow them!

[gashwin]

Thanks. I guess I'll try them too.

You're right, these are the rules. In the US, for instance, those who are visiting on B1/B2 visas can't apply for a Schengen Visa. Given that I've gotten Schengen visas in India in the past, I didn't expect this. I should have done better research before leaving the US ... oh well. Too late for that now.