Changing accommodation after interview for a Schengen visa
I will be traveling to Italy (main destination) and France (three days) in July. I have an interview at the Italian consulate for the Schengen visa next week. We plan to stay with friends in France. My friend has put in an application for a letter of invitation at the city hall in her area. At the moment we don't know if I will receive the letter from France in time, before the interview. The Italian consulate requirements are confusing. Previous phone call they said to carry the letter in person and today they said I could fax it. Regardless, I have less than a week before it gets approved and sent to me. In the meanwhile I have booked refundable accommodation at a local hotel for the short stay in France.
Will it be OK to change accommodation from hotel to staying at my friend's place (assuming the letter arrives after my Schengen visa interview)?
I will be carrying the letter with me as evidence. But I am not sure if there is any endorsement/stamping by the Italian Consulate for the French letter of invitation.
The basis for my question is this excerpt from consulfrance-houston:
This certificate must be obtained at the City Hall by the person you are visiting in France. It is a compulsory requirement for people applying for a visa to visit family or friends. Be advised that you must provide the original certificate as it needs to be officially stamped and might be presented at the border in France.
Since I am not trying to deceive, would this change in accommodation with accompanying evidence be OK?
Best Answer
Not sure whether this fully addresses your question but the “stamp” mentioned by the consulate is that of the local municipality. The consulate will want to see it, if you want this “letter” (attestation d'accueil) to count for something in support of your application.
But if you do get a visa on your own, without invitation, there is nothing illegal about staying with some friends in France. You can make reasonable changes to your itinerary and foreigners are not required to stay at hotels or, in fact, to register their address in any way, whether for short-term or long-term stays.
The text from the French consulate in Houston also implies the invitation could be examined at the French border but that's only because they assume you would enter the Schengen area directly. It should really read “at the external border of the Schengen area”. Theoretically, Italian border guards could thus ask to see it too, if you tell them the main goal of your trip is a visit to friends or family in France.
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Can I change my accommodation after getting Schengen Visa?
The Schengen visa means the visa is for the Schengen area; otherwise it will be called a country-specific visa. There is no requirement to enter first to the country who issued you visa and hence no hotel change issue.Can I cancel my hotel booking after getting Schengen Visa?
Yes of course you can and should! You can actually book hotel without credit card and cancel anytime without penalty in many websites.How long does it take to get Schengen Visa after interview?
It takes 15 days to process a Schengen visa. However, Schengen visa processing time may vary in some specific situations. In individual cases, the visa processing time may be extended to 30 days after the interview, or in some very specific situations to 60 days.How do you prove accommodation?
A proof of accommodation document is simply a document that shows you have somewhere to stay during your trip to the Schengen Area. It could be a hotel booking, a letter from family or a friend, or a rental agreement stating you have the short-term rent of a home for the duration of your trip.REASONS WHY SCHENGEN VISA APPLICATIONS GET REJECTED (Highly requested)
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