How to apply for a Schengen visa from the UK if my visa expires in less than 90 days?

Question

This is what Schengen countries say on their visa page

UK residence permit (original and copy): valid for at least 90 days beyond the return date of the trip to the Schengen area.

Reference : http://www.vfsglobal.com/germany/uk/tourist.html

I live in the UK but need to renew my visa in about 80 days, in the meantime I need to go to a Schengen country for about 2 days. My UK visa it just taking its natural course and will be renewed at the end of this time. I've been living in the UK over 4 years now, it's just the standard procedure before moving to permanent residency.

So is there anyway for me to get a Schengen visa, can I explain this to any Schengen embassy?

Answer 1

I am answering this question for the benefit of people who are in the same situation and are googling for a solution, as I was.

I have written directly to the embassy, and they allowed me to apply as long as I still have one month valid on my residence permit after my return. I then explained that to Vfsglobal, the third party agency which does the visa paperwork for German visa, and was asked to attach the printout of the email from the embassy to my application documents. In the end my application was successful.

Answer 2

So is there anyway for me to get a Schengen visa, can I explain this to any Schengen embassy?

By default, no, you won't be able to. The general rule, defined in article 6 of the Schengen visa code is that

1. An application shall be examined and decided on by the consulate of the competent Member State in whose jurisdiction the applicant legally resides.

And since the Schengen consulates don't consider you to be a UK resident, you can't apply from London. The same article does however open another possibility, namely that

2. A consulate of the competent Member State shall examine and decide on an application lodged by a third-country national legally present but not residing in its jurisdiction, if the applicant has provided justification for lodging the application at that consulate.

If you can somehow convince the consular officer that you must travel to the Schengen area (e.g. for a funeral) and don't have the opportunity to apply in Turkey (e.g. because it's very expensive) then you might be permitted to apply in the UK. However I wouldn't rely on this to work.