Not to dishearted anyone but my own application for a schengen visa was painless and I think, it&#39;s because we didn&#39;t apply from the French embassy [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Grin.gif[/img]
We drove to The Netherlands last year for our anniversary via Calais. Believe it or not, they didn&#39;t even bother checking our visas at the port of exit. I guess, the brits doesn&#39;t really care if you&#39;re leaving... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] neither at the Calais port of entry&#33; In fact, my passport didn&#39;t didn&#39;t get checked until I was coming back to the UK. I guess it&#39;s easier if you&#39;re crossing the channel by ferry.
I had a very friendly reception at the The Netherlands embassy. One day to file the application and one day a week later to collect. I can&#39;t remember what the requirements were but I do remember that when I compared my application to someone applying via the French embassy that it wasn&#39;t as complicated. My visa is expired now and we&#39;re thinking about going to France sometime in the summer to visit Bill&#39;s bro-in-law and what we&#39;ll do is just re-new at the Netherlands embassy.
So that&#39;s another avenue future applicants could consider.