Coming up with a fake travel plan to apply for a Schengen visa, will I get caught?

In order to acquire a canonical question/answer about lying on Schengen applications in our TSE archives, allow me to offer the following advice.

The strict 'party line' on TSE is we do not encourage deception. We won't do it, and any answer that proposes it will be heavily downvoted anyway.

Deception can have disastrous consequences. It goes into your Schengen transcript and remains there causing distress and embarrassment in later life. Imagine having to explain it to your employer!

From personal experience helping detainees in Heathrow/Gatwick, I can attest that people who dream up some sort of backstory because they think their circumstances are too complex to explain would have sailed right through had they been honest in the first instance.

The bottom line here is that you should always be truthful when applying for a visa. Deception might or might not work. However, the consequences for getting caught are way more severe than the one-off discomfort of having to postpone your travels and the loss of money involved.

Instead of faking your travel plans, you should simply mention your situation when applying for a visa in Italian consulate, and ask them if they could speed up your visa delivery a bit. If you have already submitted your application, call the consulate and explain your situation to them. In both cases, be polite, apologize for applying late and ask them whether they could help, rather than insisting on shorter delivery delay.

I have been in such situation already, and so were several of my acquaintances. In all cases, being honest and polite helped much more than being bold or ingenious could have.

And I'd hate to have my holiday ruined or substantial money lost!

It is far better to have your (ill planned) holiday ruined than to be in the list of deceptive applicants known to EU.

That information will surely be shared with US as well. Just to cover up a mistake, do not make use of any such advice which has enough potential to forbid your future travels to a vast number of countries around the globe. You do not appear to be someone who would like to present fake documents to obtain a visa. Your travel agent is just trying to use the sense of urgency to make you commit this blunder (he/she does not want to lose their commission), just don't.

Re-plan it with proper consideration of visa processing times and due arrangements.

And Oh, don't expect them not to come to know about it easily. Once they start asking questions and matching things up there is a lot of possibility that the presented facts wont match and your application will be most likely be turned down on the first possible hint of deception. If that does happen, it will likely to happen for a few years to come even for your genuine applications as well.

These we would then cancel once we get to Italy.

Not so easily! What will you say if an immigration officer in Italy suddenly asks you any special reasons you're landing in Italy first when you primarily applied for a French Visa? It's not that its forbidden to do that but since you applied with a fake itinerary which has changed by then your answer will not really be satisfactory.

So it's not just getting the visa that matters, you still have to be accepted for entry at the port.

Apply at the right place with right statements and if you can, do mention the sense of urgency because of this mistake. They may make room for that looking at your extensive travel arrangements, specially since you have an outward journey booked already with a visa already obtained (hopefully)

The rules of EU Schenghen Visa want you to apply to the Consulate of the nation where you make entry or the place of maximum stay.

Given that travel plans can change and as a tourist there are many factors that can make that happen, it is not within the realm of "deception" if there is no "mal intent".

But it does mean that you are "squeezing" around the rules.

As an example;

I was to once spend few weeks of time between NL, FR, ES and trip was flexible / open and larger part of it was to be between ES & NL, but my port of entry to EU on my trip from IN to US was FR. Fastest Visa turnaround was NL - So I went that way and it worked out - Later my ES stay got extended as my NL friends schedule changed.

I did know that was a possibility based on discussions with friends in NL & ES.

Is that deception or fake trip? No. It is an itinerary that is subject to change.

A lot of times I know before hand that things will change, as when I travel if I enjoy a place / people more I stay longer and if something gets boring, I cut it short and move to the next spot.

Again, this can only easily be done within a region. But, such is life.

You do not have to create a fake story or reveal complete truth about your scenario. Pleasantly present what you can confidently convey such that they know and understand that you are not a "flight risk" / "illegal immigrant".

PS: In my case I had extensive travel between IN, US, EU and was doing this on my return to the US, so it was a non issue.