Those going abroad for the first time, or those who've lost the right to use a green passport, come on in and let's get the visa together, easily. These days most agencies do this for you. But among you there are also those who, like us, deal with every document one by one. Don't get scared straight away when you look at the document lists; after a while you get used to it and it starts to feel quite normal.
Watch out for the questions and requests that'll lead you to wonder whether you're a terrorist, and just when you say 'This time I'll get it in one go', missing documents and new demands again, for the most unexpected reasons.
Schengen Visa Required Documents
Since switching from a green passport to a burgundy passport didn't change my trips to Europe, I've got a visa 3 times in the last 2 years. With the first two being 6 months and the last one a 1-year visa, I decided to prepare a visa guide for you by sharing the knowledge and experience I gained in this process.
THE VALIDITY PERIOD OF THE SCHENGEN VISA
Every visa has a validity date on it. The person travelling must have gone and come back within this date range.THE MAXIMUM STAY IN THE SCHENGEN AREA
For now we can stay in the Schengen Area for at most 90 days in every 6 months. So even if your visa is for 6 months, the time you can spend travelling is a maximum of 90 days. If it's noticed that you've exceeded this period, I'm sure they'll make you feel the effect of the overstay on your next visa application.HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU ENTER THE SCHENGEN AREA WITH THE SAME VISA?
The visa states how many times we can enter. We have 3 different options: single entry, double entry or multiple entry.Single Entry means you can enter the Schengen Area only once with the visa you get. For example, you went to Germany and came back for an emergency. Your right to go to Germany is used up and you need to apply for a visa again.
Double Entry, means you can go to and from the Schengen Area 2 times with the visa you get. Continuing the example above, you came back from Germany to Turkey for urgent business. Then when you want to go again to Germany or any Schengen country, you can go easily. This right to go is of course valid on condition of not filling up the 90 days. Some people may be given less than 90 days, so in this sense you need to pay attention to the maximum stay on your visa.
Multiple Entry, means you can enter and leave the area as many times as you like with the visa you get. Of course, take care not to exceed the maximum stay so that we don't have problems with the visas we'll get in future.
THE PASSPORT'S VALIDITY PERIOD
When applying for a visa, the passport needs to be valid for at least 6 more months. Of course, the passport's validity being 6 months doesn't determine the length of the visa you'll be given. Whether it's shorter or longer depends on the application request you make. A 2-year Schengen visa can even be given on a passport valid for 6 months. In cases like this, if you take both the old passport and the new passport on your trip, you won't run into any problems. What Is a Schengen Visa?5. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN CASES LIKE MARRIAGE, DIVORCE OR A CHANGE OF SURNAME ON YOUR IDENTITY CARD AFTER GETTING A PASSPORT?
According to law no. 403, when any of the situations above happens, the passport needs to have the same details as the current identity card. That's why we need to renew our passport. Don't say "money again", friends; the state only charges us the booklet fee. As of 2017 the booklet fee is 94₺.Let us tell you about the situation we were in on this; On the visa application, since we were still in the process of getting married at the time, the current surname was used. The visa was for 6 months. That being the case, we decided not to change the passport until the visa ran out, and we didn't run into any problems. In fact, although we carried the marriage certificate with us on every trip and went abroad 5 times in this period, not once did anyone ask. But as soon as the visa ran out we started the passport change process.
FROM WHICH COUNTRY SHOULD YOU GET THE SCHENGEN VISA?
I'd like to correct a common mistake. It's this; The statement that you need to get your Schengen visa 'from whichever country you'll go to first' is believed to be true.The truth is that you inevitably need to get the Schengen Visa from the country you'll stay in longest during your trip. Since I've dealt with this kind of process many times, this is the information I've gathered both from agencies and from experts working in this field.
In Turkey the Schengen Visa is issued by the consulates of the countries concerned. But Europeans change when they come to our country. As if the fee we pay for the Schengen application weren't enough, they also put intermediary companies in between so as not to deal with the paperwork. Most of them definitely don't accept applications at the consulate. In cases like this, the process is run from the intermediary companies' application centres. These intermediary agencies aren't the decision-makers; they only coordinate and accept the applications.
You can find out where each country accepts applications from the official consulate websites of the country concerned, but if we group them in general, it's like this:
| I Data | Germany, Italy |
| VFS Global | Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Greece* |
| Orangevize | Estonia, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia |
| TLScontact | Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Hungary |
| Consulate | Slovakia |