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I'd like to travel to Poland, Austria, and Italy over the summer. My plan is to spend almost the same days in each country. Since Poland is my first destination, I made an appointment for a Poland Schengen Visa. However, when I look into the flight information, it turns out that I have to get a connecting flight via France.

Does this make France my first Schengen destination meaning I shouldn't apply for the Poland Visa anymore?

Uciebila
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Jane
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    Does this answer your question? Should my first trip be to the country which issued my Schengen Visa? –  Jul 20 '22 at 03:36
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    @chx It's a completely different question, the risk here is losing time because the consulate declines to process the application. Once you have got the visa and if you stick to the itinerary you submitted, there is obviously no problem. – Relaxed Jul 20 '22 at 07:06
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    Solve the problem by changing your itinerary so that you spend enough time in Poland to make it your main destination – Traveller Jul 20 '22 at 07:26
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    The question in the dupe might be slightly different, but the top answer covers this question too imo: "Your first port of entry does NOT need to be the country which issued you a Schengen visa. When deciding which country to apply for a visa, this is determined by which country you're spending the most time according to your filed itinerary" – Uciebila Jul 21 '22 at 12:10

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Advice on this is contradictory. If you look at the Schengen Visa Code, the rule defined in article 5(1)(c) is that you should apply to:

if no main destination can be determined, the Member State whose external border the applicant intends to cross in order to enter the territory of the Member States.

That's not ambiguous: You are touring several countries with no main destination so you have to apply to the first country you will enter in the Schengen area, i.e. France.

However, some consulates have invented a “first main destination” concept that is nowhere to be found in the actual regulation (where the main destination is a single country). This idea has made its way to some versions of the Schengen Visa Handbook edited by the European Commission, which gives it a bit of weight and makes the rules very messy.

Under that logic since you don't have a main destination, you should disregard transit and incidental visits and consider only the countries where you are spending the most time (so Poland, Austria, and Italy). They you apply to the first of these countries you will enter, in your case Poland, or maybe choose any one of them.

Because of this, I would not be surprised if Poland is fine with processing the application, even if it should in theory be France. I certainly hope the French consulate wouldn't decline to do it (but who knows with the mess the Commission has made…). Worse case scenario, you could bounce back between several consulates (I have seen a few example of that) but they do have a lot of leeway so common sense may still prevail.

If you can afford it, @Traveller's idea to add a day in Poland to sidestep the whole issue is also a good one. You said you want to spend “almost“ the same number of days but if your stay in Poland is longer even by one day, it will look like the main destination and nobody will ask questions.

Relaxed
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  • Thank you Relaxed! I just called France VFS and they said they don't deal with the case like mine because France is not the first place that I'll visit/land, based on my travel plan. I guess I'll get a stamp in France in this way. I'm a little worried since my first stamp will not be in Poland... Should that be a concern? – Jane Jul 20 '22 at 16:40
  • @Jane Once you get the visa, it really doesn't matter where you get the stamp, it's perfectly fine to enter through another country, that's how the Schengen area is supposed to work. Not having a Polish stamp is not a concern at all. – Relaxed Jul 20 '22 at 16:53
  • I see, thank you Relaxed! This is super helpful! – Jane Jul 20 '22 at 16:56
  • The only concern is whether the consulate processes your demand or invites you to apply elsewhere. The answer you got from VFS about that really doesn't make any sense to me. France is in fact the place where you will land and enter the Schengen area. There are some questionable reasons to apply for a visa elsewhere (like this notion that you should pick one of your “main destinations“) but then the logic is that you should not apply to the country where you will enter the area, for that's indisputably going to be France. – Relaxed Jul 20 '22 at 16:57