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I've traveled previously in Europe (Schengen) during the last 4 years with 4 shengen visas. The last one was from Spain.

In my last trip application i wrote that my firat entry country will be Milan, Italy but my booking was through Aegean Airline and we did a transit in Athens so my passport was stamped in Athens.

Also my visa allowed 2 entries because I informed them I will pass through Bucharest. However, after I flew from Bucharest to Madrid airport, the passport officer said that I am not allowed to enter Spain. By the way, I had not changed my application itinerary.

I told him this is a 2-entry visa that your embassy granted me. He didn't do a entry stamp and drew two small lines over my exit stamp from Bucharest. He did let me enter Spain.

I decided to do another visa from Spain consulate. The travel agency told me that it didn't matter if my route didn't start or end in Spain so i decided to 2 days Amsterdam, 5 Madrid, 3 days Rome .

When I applied again in the Spanish consulate, they told me that I changed my first entry country. I said no, my flight was to Milan but they stamped my entry in Athens. The flight ticket which I provided was Aegean airlines again. No one mentioned that I will enter in Athens and that will be the first entry country even though I was only transiting in Athens.

The consulate also asked me who did those two small lines across the Bucharest stamp. I told them the story and that I don't know why.

They refused my visa application. The reason was: Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable.

I appealed saying that I never breached any visa. I did alot of tourism and that I needed another visa with new dates. I attached new ticket and booking because my original trip had already passed. I informed them that due to changes, I have only 5 days vacation. I just want visit spain only (5 nights Barcelona). Also I attached all last trip bookings and some train bookings and boarding passes and flights but after 30 days no one called me. When I called them, they said it means that there is no new changes in your situation.

My travel agency advised me that I must reapply again with same new booking (5 nights Barcelona). I applied again but again they refused me for same reason.

  • first refusal febraury 2016

  • second refusal april 2016

So please

  1. What should I do to visit Europe in August 2016?

  2. Should I appeal again? If yes, can I do new bookings for August and provide them?

  3. Can I ask for a single visa for Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, or Cyprus as they are still not Schengen and refusal will not appear? Can I ask 2 of them in two applications as single visa?

  4. What is the meaning of those 2 lines across my stamp? When I asked at the embassy, they said we don't know either!

Gayot Fow
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Tor
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    Could you please add a screenshot of the actual refusal note? – JoErNanO May 03 '16 at 16:32
  • Thanks to mkennedy for the righteous edit on this question! – Gayot Fow May 03 '16 at 18:25
  • Your visa application was not refused because you had breached previous visa conditions. Why did you think that an appeal with such an argumentation would solve the issue? – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 03 '16 at 22:59
  • @JoErNanO, unlike the UK, it's checkboxes and the OP's refers to this http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/53411/schengen-visa-refusal-justification-for-the-purpose-and-conditions-of-the-inten – Gayot Fow May 03 '16 at 23:25
  • I did an appeal with such arrgymentation because she asked me so clear why u changed ur first entry and who did that marks .. so it was so clear to me that the proplem was at this point – Tor May 04 '16 at 00:04

1 Answers1

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You have been refused twice for Schengen visas so far this year, and the more recent refusal reason is "Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable".

What should I do to visit Europe in August 2016?

It's clear from your narrative that you should not be trying to use a travel agent as a visa consultant. They gave you some egregiously bad advice (and as an experienced traveller from your narrative it's hard to understand why you gave it credence).

When you get the refusal reason: "Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable" it means there are some rudimentary problems with your circumstances and (based upon what you wrote) neither you nor your agent were in a position to understand just how fundamental the problems were.

Should I appeal again? If yes, can I do new bookings for August and provide them?

No. You should not be trying to appeal. Appeals work when the person is unambiguously clear about why the refusal happened and the person enjoys some measure of credibility with the respondent. When a person gets "Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable" it means among other things that their credibility has been damaged, possibly depleted.

Can I ask for a single visa for Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, or Cyprus as they are still not Schengen and refusal will not appear?

Those countries that are part of the next enlargement are using the Schengen Information System now. Accordingly there is a strong likelihood they may access your transcript. Cyprus may work however.

Can I ask 2 of them in two applications as single visa?

While those countries may recognize visas from other countries as a proxy for permission to enter their own country, there is no way to merge them into a single visa.

What is the meaning of those 2 lines across my stamp?

It means you if try to enter Spain again you will be summarily removed without right of appeal. It is an abysmal event in a person's history and may account for why you are being refused. It's reasonable to suspect that consular staff would recognize it (obviously since they gave you back-to-back refusals), and told you they didn't know what it was so as to avoid a protracted (and perhaps emotional) discussion leading to nowhere. Consular staff are trained diplomats and do things like that. It's advisable to begin recognizing that your visa problems are fundamental and get professional help.

Your narrative suggests that you may have been exploited. You may have an actionable path of recovery against the travel agent for selling you things as a fraudulent practitioner, for that you would need to ask a different question.

Your next step is to read this: Schengen Visa Refusal: Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable and instruct an EU regulated practitioner to unsnarl your circumstances (and stop using the travel agent as a substitute for a qualified practitioner).

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Gayot Fow
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  • Can you explain why a cancelled exit stamp from Bucharest will cause the OP to be summarily refused entry to Spain and why a potential refused entry is an abysmal event? There are several less severe reasons to be refused entry to the Schengen area, perhaps even caused by a temporary situation. Refusals to the Schengen area are not recorded centrally, you are not asked for prior refusals when applying for a new visa and chances are high that the only trace of the refused entry is a cancelled entry stamp in the passport. Get a new passport and noone will know about it anymore. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 03 '16 at 22:55
  • i did just used travel agency as 100% of egyptians do and as i used in my last 4 schengen visas , to book flights and hotels to help in refund cases too ,,, so when i get refused forcthat reason i know well its because those two lines across the bucharist stamp top ( which was put with no reason ! ) or may be cuz changing the first entry ( which was not in fact a change as i discussed ) so i did an appeal to provide all papers for my last schengen visa trip and all bookings to provide that i didn't change any thing ,, and i did applied again because i needed to talk and explain in new app – Tor May 03 '16 at 23:09
  • My route after bucharist was madrid ... they allowed me enter ,, he just saidxat begening that am not allowed , i said its two entry visa and i didn't change any thing , so he did that two lines across my bucharist checkout stamp at the top left corner and he let me enter madrid – Tor May 03 '16 at 23:12
  • If you're comfortable with @Tor-EinarJarnbjo comment, just get a new passport and your entire history will be irrecoverably gone! Like magic! As he pointed out "Get a new passport and noone [sic] will know about it anymore". Otherwise my answer has to stand, sorry. – Gayot Fow May 03 '16 at 23:15
  • New passport !! Are you talking seriously .... it seems that u have no idea of any thing ... they already have a full copy of my passport on the system with all my history and refusal detalis .... why should i delete my history .. its better to decide go any where else but not schengen area than to delete my history .. – Tor May 04 '16 at 00:02
  • Does that mean you are not extending lots of credibility to @Tor-EinarJarnbjo, and think that getting a new passport is a naive strategy doomed to failure? Perhaps you should ask him to clarify his rationale first. In the meantime my answer has to stand AS IS, sorry. – Gayot Fow May 04 '16 at 00:25
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    @Tor-EinarJarnbjo I was with a friend applying for a Schengen visa at the greek embassy, and they found out about her refusal from the French side. So, somehow there's a way to share information between Schengen member states.. There was no stamp or anything in her passport! You're just wrong. – Nean Der Thal May 04 '16 at 03:23
  • Are you sure? @Tor-EinarJarnbjo has told us that "Refusals to the Schengen area are not recorded centrally..." because he knows that the central database in the Schengen Visa Information System is just a hoax while all the rest of us are foolish enough to believe it really exists. – Gayot Fow May 04 '16 at 06:45
  • @HeidelBerGensis What kind of 'refusal from the French side'? Visa refusals, yes, these are stored in Schengen VIS. Refused entries (at the border) are not stored in VIS. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 04 '16 at 08:16
  • @GayotFow No, I do not believe that Schengen VIS is a hoax, but I am disputing your interpretation of the importance of an entry refusal (not a visa refusal). If you could please answer my questions instead of interpreting something completely else into what I wrote, we could perhaps reach some kind of clarification. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 04 '16 at 08:18
  • As i said i took 4 schengen visa before and i visited 26 city in europe and i have many other visas and high position jop and no proplems with me or my situation ... and i did same procedures of same last accepted visas and through same travel agency !!! And if those two lines means that i used the two entry so no proplem and they already allowed me to enter spain in 2 minutes passport check , and i did yold them that my tickit of last trip was cairo/athens/milan and thats why i wrote in last trip my first entry will be milan , i didn't know that they will ask me passport stamp in athens !! – Tor May 04 '16 at 11:04
  • Thnx alot for all comments and help ... but i just wanna to know what should i do ? Should i forget about europe this year or forever or what ? – Tor May 04 '16 at 11:10
  • Here no proffesional help in egypt i can get .. all are only travel agents and they just will ask me to apply again and try – Tor May 04 '16 at 11:12
  • Now the question has been closed and it looks like my answer went in one ear and out the other. – Gayot Fow May 04 '16 at 12:09
  • @GayotFow My mistake that I called it 'cancelled' instead of 'anulled' as used in the legal basis. The two lines across the exit stamp means that the exit stamp was anulled in a situation wher 'the traveller bears no responsibility for it', see the 'Practical Handbook for Border Guards', chapter 6.6: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2015010%202006%20INIT – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo May 09 '16 at 11:08