You have to apply at the embassy (or the one representing them if the country has no embassy in Cambodia) of the country where you enter the Schengen zone.

Let's assume the itinerary is Bangkok-Frankfurt-Barcelona and you will just travel around then you have to apply at the German embassy because they enter the Schengen zone in Germany.

But of you have the same itinerary and you plan to spend most of your time in Bulgaria, then that's your point of call.

So you have to determine:

-Point of entry
-Destination spent most time in

And then decide where to apply. This means applying without a clear itinerary (not perse a ticket) is useless.

If there's no 'primary destination ' then country of entry is where you apply, if there's a primary destination other than country of entry that's where you apply.

In your case, it looks like Spain is your main destination, with two minor side steps, so that's your place to go (or their representative in Cambodia).

Hi
I khmer friend want to visit Europe and she have to do the application for the Schengen Visa through VFS German Embassy. She is at the moment not 100 % sure to get the holiday from work. A requirement now for the application is having the flight ticket. The other requirements are not a real issue and she can loose the money for application fee and medical insurance in case she will not use the visa.
I remember that years ago before COVID and no VFS involved a friend bought the flight ticket only after getting the visa.

Is really a must be requirement already having a flight ticket at the moment of the Visa request?

Otherwise she has to buy an expensive flight ticket with total refund option.

Thanks

I always used to buy the flight ticket for my wife when applying for Schengen, fully refundable type was the way to go.

@Freightdog as above, the easiest option for sorting Schengen is the German embassy, the French one is just a diabolic mess & busy all the time from my past experience, sometimes even having a waiting time of 6-8 weeks just to get an appointment. German efficiency wins this one hands down, which is ironic as they usually look at the French with their hands up, but anyway I digress ... There are some good 'first stop' point countries that the German embassy covers which should give you options: Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg or The Netherlands.

My last experience was from here to Italy, then a near immediate departure for France - the immigration dude didn't even blink that we were just hopping through Italy & off we went.

Spigzy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:31 am I always used to buy the flight ticket for my wife when applying for Schengen, fully refundable type was the way to go.

@Freightdog as above, the easiest option for sorting Schengen is the German embassy, the French one is just a diabolic mess & busy all the time from my past experience, sometimes even having a waiting time of 6-8 weeks just to get an appointment. German efficiency wins this one hands down, which is ironic as they usually look at the French with their hands up, but anyway I digress ... There are some good 'first stop' point countries that the German embassy covers which should give you options: Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg or The Netherlands.

My last experience was from here to Italy, then a near immediate departure for France - the immigration dude didn't even blink that we were just hopping through Italy & off we went.

Once was ... When was your last experience with the German Embassy?

Add to that, you can't choose your embassy. According to your travel plans there's one, sometimes two, who should handle the application.

The German embassy barely handles applications these days, they have outsourced the majority at the expense of the applicants.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 9:02 pm

Spigzy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:31 am I always used to buy the flight ticket for my wife when applying for Schengen, fully refundable type was the way to go.

@Freightdog as above, the easiest option for sorting Schengen is the German embassy, the French one is just a diabolic mess & busy all the time from my past experience, sometimes even having a waiting time of 6-8 weeks just to get an appointment. German efficiency wins this one hands down, which is ironic as they usually look at the French with their hands up, but anyway I digress ... There are some good 'first stop' point countries that the German embassy covers which should give you options: Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg or The Netherlands.

My last experience was from here to Italy, then a near immediate departure for France - the immigration dude didn't even blink that we were just hopping through Italy & off we went.

Once was ... When was your last experience with the German Embassy?

Add to that, you can't choose your embassy. According to your travel plans there's one, sometimes two, who should handle the application.

The German embassy barely handles applications these days, they have outsourced the majority at the expense of the applicants.

November 2003, don't tell me even the Germans have become un-German, that'd be a very sad day. You need to choose the Embassy based on the first country of entry, or that's how it was back then, has that changed? The list I posted above was for the German embassy, every other Schengen country was managed by the French. To be fair to the French, I heard good things from French people about the Schengen process with the French embassy, not sure if there is some secret handshake, or croissant exchange we're supposed to know about; nobody else I know had a good experience in nearly 20 years.

khmerre wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 10:36 am Hi
I khmer friend want to visit Europe and she have to do the application for the Schengen Visa through VFS German Embassy. She is at the moment not 100 % sure to get the holiday from work. A requirement now for the application is having the flight ticket. The other requirements are not a real issue and she can loose the money for application fee and medical insurance in case she will not use the visa.
I remember that years ago before COVID and no VFS involved a friend bought the flight ticket only after getting the visa.

Is really a must be requirement already having a flight ticket at the moment of the Visa request?

Otherwise she has to buy an expensive flight ticket with total refund option.

Thanks

Embassies no longer handle visa requests themselves, have outsourced the service to VFS Global. VFS Global locations usually serve several countries, for Khmer travelling to Germany it is Phnom Penh. I am familiar with VFS Global in Resco Tower in Ho Chi Minh City, so next remarks might not apply elsewhere.

The location in Ho Chi Minh City issues the visa within 15 days from request date/appointment, but you do need a flight ticket as prerequisite in order to apply. If you miss something you will need to book a new appointment, only photos could be made on location if not up to standards.

It was possible in the past though to have a printed 'receipt' from a travel agency stating you booked a flight with them for date X returning date Y rather than present a real ticket. The agency would then book a ticket for real when it was clear the visa would arrive timely (or just ask a fee for this 'document').

This would negate the risk having bought a ticket, experience some sort of delay (eg need to book a new appointment if documents were incomplete/incorrect first time) then be too late - and have to buy a new ticket (available new appointment dates may be scarce). Possibly the PP location can offer something similar.

Remarks above by Kammekor on first country to enter the Schengen area etc. for visa / VFS location is related to that and not to pick yourself.