Types of visa refusals

A visa to any country of the Schengen zone is issued using a standard procedure, which is carried out according to clear rules. When submitting documentation to the consulate of any of the countries participating in the Schengen Agreement, a stamp is placed in the foreign passport indicating the visa category for which the application was submitted and the date of submission of the documentation. If a positive decision is made, the visa is pasted over the seal. If the requirements are not met, only a stamp with the rejection code remains in the passport. The code includes the letters A, B, C, D (reflect the type of requested visa); numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 (reflect the reason for refusal).

1. is a refusal in Schengen.
2. — corresponds to the applicant's call for an interview.
3. — additional documentation is required.
4. — corresponds to an indefinite refusal in Schengen.

Types of refusals in Schengen:

• c1 is the most common refusal of a tourist visa, valid for up to a year;
• c2 is the second most common refusal valid for more than twelve months;
• b1, b2, b3 are typical transit visa refusals;
• d, says that you were deported from some European country due to violation passport and visa check;
• a1, a2, a3 are considered refusals, when the requirement of the consulate to provide additional documentation or to come for an interview was not fulfilled;
• A4, B4, C4, D4 correspond to a lifetime ban on entering the countries of the Schengen zone.

Reasons for refusal in Schengen:

• The purpose of the planned stay is unclear;
• There are suspicions that the purpose is to circumvent the prescribed entry or stay in the state;
• Expired or insufficient validity period of documentation;
• There is no documentation confirming the purpose, the circumstances of being in the state of the Schengen zone, or there are unclear data in submitted documentation;
• There are insufficient funds (the period of stay, return to Ukraine or travel to a third country is taken into account).

Negative factors that can influence the decision to issue a visa may include:

• Presence of material disadvantage;
• Availability of single, divorced, unmarried status;
• Prior to this, there were trips with violated visa regime;
• Passport without visas;
• The applicant has no ownership;
• Documentation submitted for an inappropriate visa type;
• Availability of minimum salary;
• Presence of past refusals;
• Availability of missing documentation;
• Presence of contradictory data in statements;
• Fictitious information provided;
• There is a conviction, etc.

SIS – Schengen Information System

Presence of data about the applicant in the SIS - Schengen Information System is a fairly common reason for refusing to grant a Schengen visa. This system is a closed database, which contains: information about objects or people who are wanted, missing, or considered particularly undesirable in any state of the Schengen zone; information about fictitious, lost documentation; data related to border security.

Ukrainian citizens may violate the visa regime in any state of the Schengen zone due to ignorance or other reasons. As a result, they are entered in the SIS as violators. Schengen countries have access to SIS. Any state (regardless of which country submitted the information) can restrict or prohibit their entry, travel, and presence on its territory.

Contact our agency to find out whether or not there is data on you in SIS. This way, you will be warned in advance of a visa refusal due to this reason.

What to do if a visa is refused?

It is possible to appeal the received refusal. But practice has shown that an appeal is just wasted time. Consulates will not refuse to issue a visa without giving reasons. Therefore, it is too difficult to prove bias. If you re-submit the documentation, there will most likely be a negative decision that is not subject to appeal.

According to statistics, when citizens of Ukraine are independent they issue a Schengen visa by themselves, the number of refusals is an order of magnitude higher than when it is issued with the help of professionals.

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