An Indian family recently faced a Schengen visa rejection despite having a strong travel history. The refusal forced them to cancel their holiday in Austria and travel to Thailand instead. This has raised concerns about how Schengen visas are handled and the lack of transparency in the process.
Schengen Visa Rejected Despite Strong Travel History
Rejection of Austria Visa – Tourism
byu/Popular_Inspector614 inSchengenVisa
The visa application for Austria was rejected by the authorities even though the Indian family had a solid travel background. The man, an Indian professional, shared his story anonymously on Reddit. He said the family had planned to celebrate his mother’s 50th birthday in Europe. They had valid visas from countries like the UK and a good travel history on their passports. But even with that, they were asked to submit financial documents. After the rejection, they had to cancel their long-planned trip and also suffer financial losses.
The Reddit post also highlighted that their trip included 10 days in Austria and 4 days in Budapest. Their entry and exit were from Vienna. He even shared that they had obtained earlier Schengen visas from Switzerland, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands. His parents had also travelled to nearly 40 countries and held valid UK visas as well.
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Embassy Cited Missing Bank Statements
In the same Reddit post, the user said the Schengen visa was rejected because of “missing personal bank statements” for his parents. But he had submitted company bank statements of ₹3 crores, signed and attested by the bank. For himself and his wife, the embassy raised questions about the lack of employment letters and salary slips. He explained that he is self-employed, and his wife is unemployed but fully sponsored by him. He even submitted a personal bank statement showing ₹8 lakhs to cover their 15-day trip.
Everyone in the family had a solid travel history. The user said they followed up with embassy officials through emails and calls. They even sent the missing documents over email and asked for their appeal to be accepted since their trip was scheduled for June 10. But there was no response. They had to cancel the trip and lost about ₹1 lakh. The embassy finally responded on June 14, asking them to re-appeal with the missing documents and pay €200 (₹20,068 approx.) per person again.
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The post ended on a sad note. The family travelled to Thailand instead, but the delay in the embassy’s response and the lack of communication caused the damage. The user said this whole experience was not just financially draining but also emotionally exhausting.
Cover Image Courtesy: Pexels/ Eitan Rudinsky and Pexels/ Nataliya Vaitkevich (Representative Image)