Schengen visa refusal due to an inadvertent overstay
Me being from Mumbai, India, I have travelled to Belgium twice before once in September 2013 and June 2015.
For my most recently completed trip, my Business Visa validity was from 30th May to 16th July for a period of 48 days. However, there was another "Duration of stay" mentioned on my visa which was 30 days (which I did not observe)
While applying for the visa I also had produced my return flight tickets which was from 30th May to 6th July. I had applied for a business visa from a visa consultant (and not myself) and he applied for a short stay visa which is only valid for 30 days but my travel time was for 37 days so he should have applied for a long stay visa which he did not.
Now, while on my way back from Germany (entered Belgium and left from Germany in June, 2015), I was not caught at all at the immigration neither was I caught at Mumbai and only when I applied for another Business Visa on 4th July, 2016 (an year later) for Belgium again, I got a call from the embassy on 5th July, 2016 asking me the reason for overstay, while I truthfully did not know that I had overstayed because I somehow ignored the 30 days validity and only considered the 30th may to 16th July,2015 (48 days) as valid travel dates, I explained the person that this was a genuine mistake from my side and I didn't know the validity of 30 days. The person said, my application needs to be sent to Brussels for further approval and my client in Belgium spoke to the concerned department regarding my application and got an update that my visa has been rejected.
Moving ahead, my tickets are still booked for 4th August 2016 to 16th August, 2016. Would it be wise to reapply for a visa to Belgium itself or should I apply it for some other Schengen country ? Will it be rejected the next time as well or there is a 50% chance of getting approved ? This time application process should be any different or the same ? Should I attach an apology letter ? I would lose a big business opportunity if I am not able to make it to Belgium so any help here would be highly appreciated :)
P.S. Due to this rejection, will I also be rejected to all the other 1st world countries visa applications ? Can I do anything to undo this ?
Best Answer
There is a good news where in after a Visa refusal when I immediately applied for the second time, I got my Business visa approved.
This time, I had attached a genuine apology letter stating that I genuinely got confused with the visa stay duration and visa travel dates and I also questioned the authorities diplomatically and showed that I was myself confused as to why I was given a visa for 30 days when I had submitted my confirmed flight tickets for 38 days which was ignored by German and Mumbai airport immigrations as well. Also, my client wrote a letter which I attached with my second visa application which stated my daily itinerary for all the 12 days for this trip as to what I will be doing on each day with my client's photograph on his letterhead.
Just be honest and if one is lucky they do spare genuine mistakes!
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What happens if you overstay your visa in Schengen?
A third-country national who stays for more than 90 days in the Schengen area (without a residence permit or a long-stay visa) is overstaying and is therefore in an irregular situation. This can lead to a criminal prosecution and a to an entry ban to the Schengen area.What happens if you overstay 90 days in Schengen?
The Schengen law states that you can't stay in the Area for more than 90 days. If you do, you're subject to a fine and possibly deportation and being banned from re-entering the Schengen Area. How that rule is enforced, though, varies greatly from one country to another.What happens if my Schengen visa refused?
If your Schengen Visa is refused, you will receive a form that indicates the time you have to appeal the decision. If you do not appeal within this time frame the decision won't be reversed.Do embassies know about visa refusal in other countries?
As long as there is no visa rejection stamp on your passport none will know that another country has denied your visa. Except for Schengen countries as they use the same system and they will be able to pull you information. In the Western world all of the embassies are linked into common computer networks and systems.Top 12 Reasons for Schengen Visa Rejection and Refusal of Europe Visa
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