Most often, when we are going on vacation, we contact travel agencies and book a tour, which is already all inclusive, and an air flight, and a hotel, and a meeting at the airport. We are offered excursions, and on a huge bus, together with a guide, we visit famous sights. But it is possible to organize your trip, having studied interesting places in advance, and plunge into the atmosphere of European cities. But first you need to get a Schengen visa.
You should understand which country you plan to visit first or in which country you will spend a large number of days. You should submit your documents to the Consulate of this country. In the summer season of 2017, the easiest way to get a visa to Italy or France. Before submitting documents to the Consulate or Visa Center of the country, you need to familiarize yourself with the list of documents.
To obtain a visa to Italy, you should start by booking air tickets. In many airlines, since 2017, booking flights is only possible up to 24 hours, so if you do not want to redeem tickets, you need to constantly renew your booking. If you buy tickets in advance, then there is an opportunity to return tickets with minimal penalties.
Having decided on the hotel, you should receive a booking confirmation from the hotel and print it out for submission to the Visa Application Center. You can use hotel booking systems, which, after booking, will send you a confirmation email or book a hotel directly.
Anyone entering the Schengen countries is required to have health insurance, which must cover at least 30,000 euros. Health insurance can be obtained from any insurance company or the Italian Visa Application Center. A health insurance pole is required for a visa.
For submission to the Consulate or visa center, you will definitely need a release from the place of work. It must be signed by the manager and sealed. It is necessary to indicate the average earnings and position, the period of work.
You can confirm your solvency by providing a bank statement or a copy of your bank card and information on the card balance on paper.
It is mandatory to present a passport (with copies of its pages) and a civil passport, as well as other international passports with an expired validity period, if they still have visas.
Before visiting the Consulate or the Visa Application Center, you need to take 2 color photographs on a white background, measuring 3 by 4 cm. Or 3.5 by 4.5 cm.
To apply to the Consulate of Italy, you must register several months in advance during the summer season. The recording opens at 23:00 several days a week. You can clarify which days you can sign up for by phone. Before contacting the Italian Visa Application Center, you must make an appointment for a specific appointment time on the Visa Application Center website: italy-vms.ru. The system allows you to fill out the questionnaire automatically when you fill in certain fields. It is automatically generated and allows you to print a ready-made copy, which you also need to take with you to the Visa Application Center.
At the entrance to the visa center, access control and inspection have been introduced, so you must have an entry with you for a specific time of admission.
There is a bank in the building of the Italian Visa Application Center, where it will be possible to pay a consular fee of 35 euros for citizens of the Russian Federation.
Arriving at the Visa Center, you need to contact the reception and take a ticket for accepting documents. Then you will need to follow the number assigned to you on the scoreboard, and as soon as your number lights up, follow to the window. The procedure for submitting documents takes no more than 30 minutes. Everything is very well coordinated, there are many windows and there are no disputes over the queue.
The duration of a Schengen visa depends on whether you have previously held an Italian visa. And also whether the term of your passport allows you to enter the Schengen area for a longer period than your trip. During the validity of your Schengen visa, you can visit any countries that have entered into the Schengen agreement. Today there are 26 such countries.
If you have received a visa with a multi mark, the number of entries is not limited. But the total time of stay in the country should not exceed 90 days for the entire period of the visa.
Violation of the visa regime is undesirable, and even if your visa is not canceled, then you will hardly be able to get the next visa to the Schengen zone.
