Catshanghai

Jenny just got her Schengen visa to go to Spain next week. Hurray!

The Schengen agreement allows visitors to travel around continental Europe without requiring a separate visa for each country, although the UK has a separate protocol. This means Chinese visitors need to get a visa for the UK and a Schengen visa for the rest of Europe.

Our fears and worries were explored in my post from two weeks ago when the Spanish Visa Office refused to accept the legality of our notarised marriage certificate, but fortunately they still granted Jenny a tourist visa. Several things helped her.

• She already has a visa to go to the UK
• She has a passport full of stamps and visas to the UK, Japan, Thailand and France
• She proved she has funds to support herself during the 5 days we are in Barcelona

We saw other people in the visa office on The Bund who were not so lucky even though they had spent months planning their trips to Spain. The most unfortunate thing is that these folks will not get their visa fees of 630 RMB per person refunded. It’s going to cost a couple we saw this morning 1260 RMB just for the privilege of filling out the forms, queuing for ages and being served by surly Chinese bureaucrats on the lookout for errors and omissions in documentation. The visa fees to the UK are even steeper at 940 RMB per person, but at least they recognise wedding certificates when they see them.

Presumably, the rejected visa applicants are entitled to a refund on plane tickets and hotel bookings, but they may stand to lose a cancellation fee. Plus, they are branded as rejects unfit to visit Europe. When you fill out the Schengen visa application form to enter Europe you have to declare all your previous applications.

Such shoddy treatment looks rather similar to attempting to book a table in a restaurant and having to pay the bill even if you have not been allowed to walk through the door to eat any food. Of course consulates need to cover admin costs and pay the rent, but rejected applicants should be entitled to at least a partial refund to show some goodwill and humanity. After all Chinese tourist are lining up to spend money in European countries and they should not be derided as illegal immigrants or potential terrorists.

If your visa application has been rejected then don’t give up. A Welsh friend’s Chinese girlfriend is going to the UK next month even though her visa application was rejected last year. Bear in mind that the following things will help you.

• Show you have plenty of money
• Show you have lots of good reasons to come back to China including a job and a house
• Make sure you jump through all the hoops they provide for you, however absurd or humiliating
• Cultivate guanxi with consulate officials. Jenny’s visa application to France was fast tracked after we found out that a friend of a friend was working at the French Consulate.
• Getting sponsorship from your compnay to visit Europe on business is your best bet of getting a visa to go to Europe short of marrying a Euro citizen (for love not for scam!)

One day international travel will have fewer physical restraints like the Internet. Where is that flying pig?

End of rant.