That's unfortunate...sorry to hear it. What was the reason given for the refusal?

Mama2Gees:
Hi everyone,
My siblings received their passport back today and the visa was refused. Just wanted to let you all know. I will probably cancel all my birthday plans as I really wanted to celebrate with my siblings. Thank you all for all your help.

Hi Jaywon89

The Twitter screenshot I included in my post is from an Indian lady who I believe either works in BLS (it’s an Indian company) or has some affiliation to it - she seems to be in the know. There’s no announcement of a strike by the Spanish consulate in Nigeria but I think they’re not accepting appointments now, to show solidarity with their colleagues in the UK. This is the only explanation that makes sense…normally they should have released appointments since last month

Jaywon89:



Thanks so much for the research and update. I read the link and did further checking too. It seem it’s the embassy in London that this applies to. Is there a way to confirm that the ones in Nigeria are joining the strike too?

Thanks for your response Narcdramaqueen. If I book flights for them to enter the Schengen area through France, I hope they won't face any problem using that same visa to enter Spain? I'm contemplating getting them tickets to take the train to Spain as soon as they land in Paris. What are your thoughts on this plan?

narcdramaqueen:


My advice to you is to not bother with Spain. I dunno whether they sent the people who came last in class to Nigeria, but they are very dull. You will even have to translate your documents into Spanish, and they will hold your application even beyond your planned travel date.

I didn't get any response on this thread so I made some enquiries on social media. Apparently, visa appointments for Spain are suspended indefinitely due to strike action by Spain consulate staff: https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2022/03/spanish-visas-may-be-delayed-due-to-strike/

Apparently, BLS has been given instruction not to release appointments for May until staff grievances are addressed by the Spanish government. Hope this is helpful to someone...

Hi @imran90. Wetin de sup? Have they stopped releasing appointments outright? Nawaooo

Hello house. I know this thread is meant for France visa discussions exclusively but I wanted to know if anyone has had an experience with France or any other Schengen country's outsourcing agency (BLS, VFS, TLS, etc.) where they refuse to post up appointment openings in a timely manner? I've been searching for a May appointment slot for a Spain Schengen visa since the beginning of March - we're now at April 6th and they still haven't released May appointment bookings. I hope this isn't a move by some cabal to pre-book May appointment slots for their chosen people or something...anything can happen in Naija. Please can anyone advise what may be happening? Have you experienced such before?

This thread isn't very buoyant - abi people aren't interested in applying for Spain visa again? Please can anyone advise what may be going on? These people have refused to open May bookings since beginning of March when I started checking and I'm really confused as to why. Is this how they used to do?

I follow you ask. I’ve been searching for a May appointment slot since beginning of March…nothing nothing. I don’t know what’s happening

@Nancyama - don't listen to this dude telling you to use an agent. Booking directly from the airline's website is your best bet. Go for it

I have a final question please. How far in advance of travel date can one apply for a Spain Schengen? As usual BLS Spain website gives different answers - when you first open the page, a message pops up that says "As of 2nd February’ 2020 The deadline for submitting a visa application is extended to 6 months instead of 3 months". But when you enter the site and look around it says "An application MUST be lodged at least 15 working days before the intended visit and cannot be lodged earlier than TWELVE WEEKS before the start of the intended visit." So which one is it - 12 weeks (3 months) or 6 months?

Hello house. Please how are you responding to this requirement? "Proof of your travel plans as a tourist (e.g. a prepaid sightseeing trip, museum tickets, football tickets, etc.)" If they advise us against paying for flight tickets and hotel booking before our visas are approved, why would they ask us to show prepaid museum tickets? Seems like a contradiction

Thanks @lamajala. I have another question for the house please. I've booked a hotel for the duration of my family's stay in Spain and received a confirmation in my inbox (free cancellation, no prepayment) but BLS's website states that "Email bookings are not accepted". How are you all handling this? Why would an email booking not be accepted in this time of Covid, I don't understand. Am I supposed to call the hotel and ask for some kind of letter to prove that the reservation is valid? Any tips you can provide will be appreciated. Thank you all

Hi @lamajala. I've done so but either the verification code doesn't come, or it comes after a long delay, I enter it and then when I click "next", the page fails to load (504 gateway time-out error). Seems others aren't having this same issue...it's so frustrating

Hi all. I've been monitoring this thread closely as I'd like to apply for a Schengen for my mum. BLS's website really isn't the best - I've been trying to search for a visa appointment for some days now (using her details) but I'm not able to get past the first page ("Appointment for the Visa Application Centre". The request keeps timing out and I get an error message stating 504 Bad Gateway which I understand happens when a website's server is malfunctioning. How's anybody able to book appointments if their website won't even work to allow you to see what's available?! Can someone who has successfully booked an appointment please share any tips that can help us? Is there a time of day when the website is more stable and appointment slots become available? Thank you