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Writer's pictureSusmit Paul Aranya

Bad Planning: Learning from My Mistake!

Planning for my travel in June 2018 was simply NOT good enough, taking into account the passport I hold.

Submitted Schengen Visa Application with only a few days time in hand when I have always suggested others to keep at least a month in hand while applying for Schengen Visa or any similar visas.

Even though the French Embassy in Bangladesh processes most visa applications within 10 working days, there may be circumstances (even for those holding previous Schengen Visas as in my case) which can lead to delay. In my case, it was my plan of travelling to multiple countries not represented by Single embassy. The embassy wanted another 10 days to verify my travel plan and obtain approval from other embassies, while I had my flight to China leaving the next day for some urgent meeting. Had no option but to withdraw the passport. Thanks to the Consul for not marking "Rejected" on my application, instead he stamped "Application Withdrawn" with the remark "change in tour plan".


The sad part is, I had already purchased my air ticket to Berlin, Germany and all other air tickets within Europe. I had also paid for hotels, a Euroline Pass, travel insurance and other things necessary for a trip to Europe. Altogether it was a loss of more than USD 700 (all my air tickets were promo tickets, so it was really cheap). Had everything gone as per the original plan, it could have been a good 17 days trip to 5 countries in Europe.


Whatever it is, I take it as a lesson, which is needed to accomplish my goal to travel All Countries holding a Bangladeshi Passport. Since then I have been able to successfully travel for almost 13 months in a span of 2 years, not taking into account small changes in plans and so on. But none of my tours was completely shattered due to circumstances as explained above. Obviously due to the outbreak of Covid-19 Outbreak, I am not being able execute the current travel plan from April to July 2020 for around 100 days, but that’s something I cannot do anything about.


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3 Comments


Susmit Paul Aranya
Susmit Paul Aranya
Jun 18, 2020

Nothing of that sort bhai. You do not need to avoid any embassy in particular. Perhaps it is always best to plan your travel first and then apply at the embassy of your main destination. Main destination: Either country where you intend to enter Schengen or where you will be staying the most.

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mdekram123
Jun 17, 2020

I have previous rejection from Italian Embassy and from Switzerland Embassy 😞

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mdekram123
Jun 17, 2020

Dada, which is the best embassy to submit my visa application now? Should I avoid France?

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