On the question of a booking for a visa two fears get mixed up. Either a person shies away from buying a ticket before the visa, or they think it is possible to apply without a booking at all. The right answer is in the middle and it is very simple: a hotel and flight booking is needed, payment is not. Below I have written how the hotel and flight booking is prepared and which option is dangerous.
What a booking for a visa means
The consulate asks you for a document showing that your travel plan is real. A confirmed booking is enough for that; a payment receipt is not required. The document should show your name, the dates, the hotel’s name and address, and on the flight the flight number.
This is not an accidental concession but a logical rule. A visa can be refused, and no consulate requires you to spend a thousand euros in advance. So paying in full before the visa is both risky and unnecessary.
How to prepare the hotel and flight booking
The most correct route is to take a booking that can be cancelled free of charge. The card details are given, no money is taken, and if the visa does not come you cancel the booking without a penalty. The price difference is usually around ten per cent, and it works like insurance.
If the route has several cities, a separate booking is needed for each city and no gap should be left between the dates. Filtering hotel options with free cancellation brings this job down to a few minutes. Print the booking, because consulates want a paper copy.
The flight booking and the dangerous option
For the flight, airlines offer a booking hold service, that is, the ticket is held for a few days for a small charge. That is a fully official option and creates no problem at the consulate. To formalise the flight booking, make the dates coincide with your route.
Now about the dangerous option. There are sites on the internet selling fake bookings; they make up an invented document for a few dollars. Consulates check these documents in the airline’s system, and when it comes to light the application is refused, and a negative trace remains for future applications as well. Do not go down that road.
The matching of dates
The dates must be the same on all the documents. Let the entry date on the form, the air ticket, the hotel booking and the insurance policy confirm one another. Let the insurance run at least a day longer than the trip, because a shortfall of one day stops the application.
Once the visa is issued the date can be changed, but that has to be within the visa’s period of validity. The booking, though, should be finalised and paid for after the visa is in your hands. The official document list for Schengen is published on the European Commission site.
In summary
A booking for a visa has to be real but does not have to be paid for, and those two things should not be confused. Choose free cancellation, hold the flight booking by the official route, stay away from a fake document. To prepare the document package together, fill in the application form.
Note: document requirements vary by consulate, so check the official list before applying.
