Trying to get Schengen Visa for France - is Consulate Appointment Broken?

Trying to get Schengen Visa for France - is Consulate Appointment Broken? - Woman in Black Spaghetti Strap Top Wearing Necklace

I'm trying to get a Schengen Visa from my first port of entry, France. I am trying to book an appointment with the French Consulate in SF, and the URL I am using is the following: https://pastel.diplomatie.gouv.fr/rdvinternet/html-3.04.03/frameset/frameset.html?lcid=1&sgid=260&suid=1

I've been checking this page periodically for the past few weeks, and I always see a dialog that that says "We are currently at full capacity. Please try again later." Their calendar provides no direct option for going to the next month. (Using the in-browser developer tools, I noticed that the button for next month is hidden. Un-hiding it and clicking on the Next Month button displays no available appointments either. I checked all the way until September 2016).

My guess is that there are absolutely no appointments for the next 6 months. Or, more likely, their page isn't functioning properly. I'll be traveling in July. Does anybody have any alternate suggestions to book an appointment?



Best Answer

Is the site broken?

Unlikely, it is more likely that the consulate in San Francisco is not booking appointments at the moment. Attempting to book an appointment using the link you gave, gives a screen like this... enter image description here

And on this page we observe that French consulates use an app called 'rendez-vous'. So switching the location to Vancouver gives us this page...

enter image description here

which shows that the app is working. To confirm, let's see if the same user experience occurs in Rio...

enter image description here

Rio works. But there's no indication that San Francisco is broken. So we can put this down to one of several alternatives...

  1. The San Francisco consulate is not staffed up at this time in a way that can accommodate your appointment request (i.e., the app is reporting the situation accurately);

  2. A consular staff member has corrupted the database such that all the Vice Consuls in SF are shown as indefinitely busy;

  3. The San Francisco consulate has somehow fallen off the grid and your experience is the app's way of telling you.

To move forward, you can pursue one of several options...

  1. Contact the consulate using their 'contact us' details and explain what the problem is. It's likely this may result in a problem ticket being raised at the IT support facility in La Defence (that's a bad thing).

  2. Book your appointment in Vancouver (or another site with available slots) and then put in an immediate change request on it (or alternatively, just attend the appointment).

  3. Play 'map-and-die' with the URI tail to locate a different consulate more convenient to you (that's how I found Vancouver and Rio by the way).

  4. My personal favourite: rework your itinerary such that you will land in a different member (thereby changing the cognizant issuer).

  5. Keep trying and trying to wait for the San Francisco site to have something available.

  6. Start (very tactfully) haranguing them on Twitter about it. You can start by asking them to identify your liaison for 'rendez-vous' issues, that usually gets the ball rolling. Or ask them to read this.




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Can I go to VFS without appointment for Schengen visa?

Walk In Without Appointment* If you need to submit your visa application on an urgent basis, walk into our Visa Application Centre and opt for this service. VFS Global will process your visa application without a pre-booked appointment.

How can I get VFS appointment for France visa?

You must book an appointment to submit your visa application to VFS Global visa application center (VAC). Before you book an appointment, you must fill a visa application form online on the official French website France-Visas.

How long does it take to get French visa After appointment?

The visa application process may take a minimum of 2-3 weeks after you have had your in-person appointment at the Visa Application Center (VAC).

Can you get a Schengen visa at the moment?

You will have to wait at least 15 days for your Schengen Visa to be processed, though the processing time will depend on your case. In specific cases, embassies can take 30 days to process a visa, and the Schengen Visa processing time could even be as long as 60 days in extraordinary circumstances.



REASONS WHY SCHENGEN VISA APPLICATIONS GET REJECTED (Highly requested)




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Polina Tankilevitch, Jean-Baptiste Burbaud, Jean-Baptiste Burbaud, Chiv Loc