I’ve applied (and been approved) for a short-stay tourist Schengen Visa four times, and the process still catches me and my sister @giannahere off-guard.
Since I hope to go to Lisbon later this year for work (#Manifesting), and then next year to Italy for fun (#ManifestingMore), I’m writing for the benefit of my future self. Maybe next time I’ll be granted long-term ME (#ManifestingTheMost).
Further context: The first three times I applied for Schengen Visa, I was still a student. Proof of financial capacity was fully dependent on my mom’s more considerable resources. The first two applications were also done through travel agencies, and my school/mom took care of most of it. I only applied as an Actual Working Adult last January 2025.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Tips
- Where should you apply for Schengen Visa?
- How long does it take to process a visa application? When should you apply?
- Can you apply as a group?
- Do you need to submit an original and photocopy of ALL supporting documents?
- How much is a Schengen visa application?
- What happens if you forget a required document?
- How much money do you need in your bank account to get your visa approved?
Where should you apply for Schengen Visa?
If you’ll be visiting multiple countries within Schengen, apply through the embassy of the country where you will stay the longest.
Back in 2017, we made the mistake of trying to apply through the Netherlands embassy. That was our entry and exit point for a trip spanning Paris, Prague, Bruges, Berlin, and London. However, the visa officer quickly discovered we only planned to stay for around 3 days in Amsterdam out of our three-week trip. We were asked to cancel the appointment immediately. At least it didn’t reflect as a rejected application… it was mortifying and stressful. We then tried in Czech Republic because our itinerary proved that we would stay there the longest.
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Read more: Summer in Europe – Ams.Prg.Ber
If you will be staying approximately equal number of days in multiple countries, apply through the country where you will enter or exit the zone.
For our coming shorter trip this spring (#Manifesting), we’ll be staying roughly the same number of days across three countries. Our entry and exit points are also different. We decided to apply in France (our entry point), instead of Portugal (middle destination), or Spain (our exit point).
However, the easiest and safest thing to do is to adjust your itinerary to reflect one country as the place of longest stay. In our case, we submitted an itinerary with one day more in France compared to Portugal or Spain. Anyway, inter-city train rides or flights can be easily changed after visa approval.
How long does it take to process a visa application? When should you apply?
I started a “guide to visa” for my family around December. For France, there are two main steps — fill-up the form through the official website, then make an appointment for biometrics and passport application through TLS Contact.
We did step 1 (application form) and completed all supporting documents by the 3rd week of December. It really depends on how fast you’re able to process documents from your bank, insurance provider, accountant, or employer.
We logged into step 2 (TLS Contact) on December 23, and got the earliest possible appointment, which was January 6. Considering the holidays, that was basically only a 1 week interval to get an appointment.
My sister and I noted something about the availability. After the first week of January, the next available dates were on the first week of February. The rest of January was already blacked out. We’re unsure if this is a matter of policy (if the application centre only receives during the first week of the month?) or it just reflects the actual traffic of tourists.
We submitted our passports and missing documents on January 6. After 4 days, we received our approved visas and passports by courier.
All told, planning the visa application to receiving the visa took only 5 weeks (already including Christmas and New Year holidays).
Most guides suggest getting a visa within 6 months up to at least 15 days before your scheduled flight. Moving backwards from the minimum, I suggest adding a buffer of at least 2 months from scheduled flight, in case the embassy is particularly strict, or if there are a high volume of tourists applying.
Though it’s not in Schengen, my sister had the recent miserable experience of waiting up to three months or so for her Ireland visa. She received her visa only a few days to her trip. I can only imagine the stress of that situation.
Can you apply as a group?
Actually, yes! Everyone will still have to fill out their own application form, which will generate a unique reference number. But the appointment and submission of documents can be processed as a group. Only one person will create an account at TLS contact to book an appointment. That same person will fill out the appointment form for all family members.
However, I can’t go into more detail. Our family applied as individuals because we were a little harried when we were booking the appointment; we were rushing and couldn’t figure out how to do the group application. We all had our individual accounts. I’m only sure that group application is possible because the concierge at TLS Contact asked us about it. For next time.
Do you need to submit an original and photocopy of ALL supporting documents?
Yes and no. The application portal states that you would need to present “original and photocopy of supporting documents”. We submitted the original passport, as well as printout of the scans of relevant pages. I prepared original and duplicates for documents I requested specifically for the trip –bank statement, certification, certificate of employment. My sister only prepared the original. Both our applications were accepted. The visa center did not return the duplicates to me.
However, some documents can really be just one copy. This is especially important to reduce paper waste… For example, there’s no need to photocopy printouts of the flight tickets, general itinerary, and proof of accommodation, as these have no true “originals” anyway.
How much is a Schengen visa application?
We last applied through the TLS Contact – France visa application centre in Makati. The appointment fee cost us Php 1,588 each. This is paid online even before the actual appointment.
The regular visa processing fee (including courier service) cost my sister and uncle Php 5,735 each. This is paid during the appointment itself.
Premium lounge access has separate perks, and cost an additional Php 2,000. See next section for more details.
These quotes apply to TLS Contact – France Visa Application Centre. Prices change based on current exchange rate.
What happens if you forget a required document?
You can submit missing documents within an allotted (limited) time frame, depending on the price you pay.
My mom and I forgot to include our Income Tax Return with our documents. We ended up paying a premium processing fee of Php 7,980 each instead of Php 5,735.
The additional premium processing fee includes free wifi, printing services, and a separate waiting lounge with snacks and coffee. More importantly, it allows clients to send scanned copies of any missing documents until 7AM of the next day after the appointment to a specified e-mail account.
Php 2,000 is a pretty unfortunate price to pay… But it’s sulit (worth it) if you consider the cost of commuting back-and-forth Makati-Manila, my missed hours of work trying to submit before 4PM, and the uncertainty that it won’t be processed at all. Plus I snagged some of the free drinks.
Even without the premium fee, you can still try to submit missing documents. At the regular processing rate, you can only send a physical copy of the missing document before 4PM of the same day of your appointment. It cannot be e-mailed or couriered by another person. This works only if you have easy access to the document and all the time in the world. I personally had to go back to the hospital after my appointment (I didn’t take a real leave). I didn’t have time or resources to go back and forth from Manila to Makati.
P.S. As a first time earning adult — I really thought a certificate of employment would be enough. Apparently, COE and ITR always go hand-in-hand. I did that for Korean visa application, so I don’t know why I chose to forgo ITR for Schengen… I still didn’t submit any pay slips though. Given the glacial processing conditions in a government hospital, my latest available pay slip is still dated September 2024.
These tips only apply to TLS Contact – France visa application centre in Makati as of January 2025.
How much money do you need in your bank account to get your visa approved?
Since last January was my first time applying as a working adult, I was a little worried about how empty my bank account was… To be clear, majority of my money is nested in different electronic saving or investment tools. But also to be even clearer, I am really bad at saving money anyway.
Before we applied, I looked up some references on minimum balance needed. Insurance blogs (see here) put it at €45 to €65 or Php 3,300 average per day of travel. So for a 10-day trip, your bank statements should reflect a current or average daily balance of Php 33,000. Not so devastating, noh?
Tip: A stricter embassy might scrutinize your account for suspicious transactions. Avoid trying to bloat your account by transferring money only a few days before requesting for a statement. Your current balance will have to match your spending patterns (last 3 months) and average balance.
Regardless of equity, most anecdotes and blogs say it’s more important to have proof of ties to country of origin. This includes employment letters, property deeds, children’s birth certificates, or, when I was still a student, an enrollment certificate.
As long as you have enough funds to get some groceries abroad, and no obvious reasons to overstay, then you’ll likely be approved.
Looking back and looking ahead
Applying for a visa is always so stressful, not to mention exorbitantly expensive. It’s the curse of having a “weak” passport. But it’s well worth the experiences and sights that come after.
Schengen visa application feels more stringent compared to Korean and Japan, but less strict compared to the US. It’s probably getting worse in this political climate… Anyway, if you already have an active US visa, a Schengen visa will most likely be approved.
I was inspired to finally write and post this blog post while sitting in the 7th session of my beginner’s Spanish class yesterday. Yes, I did actually enroll to Instituto Cervantes’ A1.1 online course. Our professor mentioned Museo del Prado earlier. Getting to visit that museum again –after more than 10 years!!!– is something I’m dearly looking forward to.
Practicing speaking-listening in a class has been loads of fun so far. There are also simply some things Duolingo can’t teach, like grammar and updated culture. I still won’t be able to say anything aside from very basic phrases when we fly out this spring, but we all have to start somewhere.
I’ll write about this whole estudiante de idioma de España thing. Maybe one of these days, I’ll even have the audacity to start blogging in Spanish. Just to give something for my future self –and rare readers– to cringe about.
I hope this little FAQ helped. Reddit is also an honest, real-time trove of information when it comes to navigating specific visa concerns. When all else fails: ask, ask, and ask the official representatives.
If you have any other questions, comment here or DM me on instagram: @jarimon_
Until next time! ♥
jari m 
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