Individuals seeking short-term visas face lengthy appointment scheduling delays, longer visa processing times, and new application requirements for many destination countries globally. Specifically, individuals seeking a U.S. visa face limited consular appointment availability especially for B-1 visas; individuals seeking Schengen Area visas face limited appointment availability particularly if based in India, the United Kingdom and the United States; individuals seeking Chinese visas continue to face cumbersome COVID-19 testing requirements; and individuals seeking Japanese visas face lengthy processing delays.

STEVITO wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 6:42 am My partner and her daughter applied for the Schengen visa last month. We are not married and I am the step-father, not real father.
Schengen application was easier than the UK one in fact. As mentioned a lot of information is required. A day by day travel itinerary was planned with confirmations of hotel bookings, and one invite to stay at a friends house included. We gave a daily budget of estimated costs. I forget how much but not excessive and essentially everything was accounted for. And 3 days after applying the visa was ready. Our travel plan showed entry at Amsterdam and then onto Germany. And Dutch applications are managed by the German Embassy which has outsourced applications to VFS Global.
Travel insurance was arranged in advance and provided with the application. That was refundable if the visa had not been granted.
It's worth noting if you say you will stay 14 days you will be given a 14 day visa. That's different to the UK which provides a 90 day stay regardless of how long you actually plan to visit. So presumably if you plan a long stay you will have to show more finances to support it.