Need some clarification around Schengen visa and entry point

Hello everyone,


I wanted to get some travel advise. We are planning to go to Amsterdam and Paris for a week in September, and wanted to apply for Schengen visa.


1) Is it better to apply with the Dutch consulate or French embassy w.r.t. the probability of getting the visa?

2) Say, if we get the visa from Dutch consulate, will it be fine if we enter Europe in Paris rather than somewhere in Netherland?

3) Continuing on the same topic, if we enter from Paris but leave from Amsterdam to come back to HK since we do not want to waste time in going back to Pqaris just to take the return flight back to HK, will there be any issues in terms of not leaving from the same country where we entered Europe?

4) Last, we moved to HK last year and our HK 1 yr visa gets over in October. My company will be filing for the extension but only in September, and we will apply for the Schengen visa before that. What should I do to ensure that the Schengen visa is valid beyond the HK visa expiry date. I want to get a longer term multiple entry visa if possible.


Thanks in advance for your help.

You can generally travel freely between EU countries. I don't think there is a specific Shenzhen visa, it's just a visa for all of China. There are multiple entry visas, but sometimes they can be difficult to get.

lol i think shengen and shenzhen are slightly different ;-)


1) Is it better to apply with the Dutch consulate or French embassy w.r.t. the probability of getting the visa?

i dont know for sure but my gut feel based on national personality tells me that the dutch should be easier (not in terms of strictness but in terms of processing and transparency).


2) Say, if we get the visa from Dutch consulate, will it be fine if we enter Europe in Paris rather than somewhere in Netherland?

I once got a shengen visa for my wife from the German embassy and we entered France by car from Switzerland. No issues there, so I would not expect any issues in your case. You might want to double check with the embassy though (or some websites that cover such topics)


3) Continuing on the same topic, if we enter from Paris but leave from Amsterdam to come back to HK since we do not want to waste time in going back to Pqaris just to take the return flight back to HK, will there be any issues in terms of not leaving from the same country where we entered Europe?

No problem what so ever


4) Last, we moved to HK last year and our HK 1 yr visa gets over in October. My company will be filing for the extension but only in September, and we will apply for the Schengen visa before that. What should I do to ensure that the Schengen visa is valid beyond the HK visa expiry date. I want to get a longer term multiple entry visa if possible.

i dont think your hk visa is relevant when applying for the shengen visa. your nationality should count...(but not 100% sure on this one)

The Schengen visa agreement allows where one member country subscribing to the agreement clears the applicant and this applicant is permitted to visit other subscribing countries without further visa applications. Some E.U. countries, such as the independent minded British, do NOT belong and therefore a separate visa is required.


The easiest 'touch' is reported to be Portugal and France is the toughest! The application requires that you have a hotel reservation and illegal immigrants (no inference) book a hotel and get a confirmation e-mail and after the visa has been granted the reservation is cancelled.


You can enter the E.U. through any Schengen subscribing country. Which airport you leave the E.U. is immaterial (as long as you leave).


I would have your employer bring your HK vis application forward so that the Dutch can see you have somewhere to return to.

Thought I read somewhere you should apply for the country in which you ll be spending the most time in Europe.. Not sure how it is controlled though.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Appreciate it.