France Consulate General in Calcutta – Getting Schengen Visa from India

Introduction

France Consulate General in Calcutta processes France Schengen Visa (France short-stay visa) applications and France Residence Permit (France long-stay visa) applications. 

France: A Place To Be!

The cities and quaint country cottages of France are bursting with picture-perfect locations putting on must-see exhibitions every year. From littoral and waterside resorts of Côte d’Azur to the bustling life of à la mode Paris, France remains a global leader in tourism. 

Spanning over an area of 643,801 kilometers square, the country’s vines and cuisines entice millions of new foreign audiences every year. 

And if you are an antiquarian, Marseille is the place to be. The 2600-year-old city offers spectacular fjords, a blue-water coastline, bouillabaisse, scuba diving and hip hop music and cutting edge rap. Visit Lourve and get bogged down into an incredible journey of human evolution. 

France is not all about Paris only. Côte d’Azur aka French Riveria—located in Southeastern France—is synonymous with glamour. Quant fishing kraals of Brittany serves mouthwatering seafood and crêpes.

If you are a man consumed by wanderlust and want to explore magnificent France, you need to apply for France Schengen Visa at the Consulate General of France in Calcutta. 

Jurisdiction of Consulate General of France in Calcutta

Consulate General of France in Calcutta covers the following states of India:

West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Sikkim. 

Schengen Visa Application Process at Consulate General of France in Calcutta

Below is your ultimate guide to applying for France Schengen Visa in India:

Step 1: Fill Online Application for France Schengen Visa

Begin the France Schengen Visa application process by filling the online application. 

When you have completed the application, you must print the application form and your receipt of the application. You must bring these documents, together with all supporting documents, when you submit your file to the relevant consular service or external service provider.

Visa applications cannot be submitted more than 3 months prior to the start of your trip.

Step 2: Collect Visa Docs for France Schengen Visa

After filling the online application, you will start collecting all supporting and mandatory visa documents. These include:

Passport: An authentic passport with validity of at least 90 days after the intended date of the return from the host nation. The passport must also have two blank pages to mark itinerant’s departure and arrival dates. 

Pictures: Along with the pictures, the applicant will submit two international standard passport size pictures.

Flight Reservation for Visa Application: A roundtrip flight reservation for France Schengen Visa is a document entailing details about the exit and departure dates, PNR codes, proposed flight route, and IATA [airport] codes. 

Hotel Bookings for Visa Application: A hotel booking for visa application is a document entailing details of payments made for availing accommodation facility in the host nation. 

Travel Health Insurance for Schengen Visa Application: A travel health insurance for Schengen Visa application is a document assuring the visa officer that the applicant has got himself medically covered during the period of his/her trip to the host nation. 

The availed insurance must provide minimum coverage of USD 50000 or EUR 30000. Also, it must cover expenses for the cost of repatriation. 

Cover Letter for Visa Application: A cover letter for visa application explains to the visa officer the core reason for applying for France Schengen Visa in India. It must not contain any additional detail. Furthermore, the applicant must abstain from adding any additional detail in the cover letter.

Evidence of solvency: Embassies and consulates ask the applicant to prove his financial ability. For the said purpose, the applicant will submit a bank statement comprising the record of transactions of the previous three months.

Means of subsistence: It means to provide evidence to the French Embassy or consulate that the applicant has a sufficient amount of financial resources to bear his/her expenditures during his stay in the Schengen country. In the absence of proof of accommodation or hotel booking, the applicant is bound to attest to the French Consulate or Embassy that he possesses daily cash equivalent to 120 euros.

Evidence explaining the applicant’s social status in India. 

Step 3: Appear for Interview

In the last step, the applicant will appear for the interview at the Consulate General of France in Bombay. The applicant must reach the consulate 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Otherwise, staffers at the embassy or consulate will cancel the interview.

Step 4: Collect Visa

Usually, the Consulate General of France in Bombay takes up to 15 days to process the visa application. You can collect it by appearing in person or through the post.