Schengen Visa Process for Indians 2024 | My Netherlands Visa Experience + Tips

Applying for a Schengen Visa? Learn from my 2024 experience with the Netherlands Visa, including essential tips, documents required, and why I built a Telegram bot to get early VFS appointments. Watch now to avoid common mistakes and make your visa process smoother!

Netherlands Visa Experience (Visa Approved) - VFS Bangalore | Short Stay Visa Tourism
Experience
Applied the for The Netherlands Schengen Visa from VFS Bangalore and got the visa for me and my brother.

Timeline:
6th May 2024: VFS appointment and biometrics (General appointment, don't go for the premium lounge as I heard it is not at all worth it.)

7th May 2024: Application received at Netherlands Embassy, New Delhi

30th May 2024: Visa application processed and dispatched via courier (Tho I did not receive this update and VFS did not even inform me about the dispatch.)

31st May 2024: Passport received via BlueDart.

Tracking application via Netherlands Visa Application Tracking Page and the status was:

English:Visa application [XYZ***] has been received at the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands, New Delhi on 5/7/2024 for further processing. For more information please call the VFS Helpline or visit the website.

(The status was unchanged even after getting the passport :( Ik VFS sucks!)

Conclusion: Got single entry visa approved with 45 day validity and 30 day stay for my trip :P

To get the VFS appointment you need to create an account and fill in some travel document details and thats it book the appointment. Don't worry about buying the tickets, hotel reservations and filling up the form. You can do that later but the first step is to get an appointment and you can prepare the documents until then.

I did a mistake by waiting for the bookings and then applied. Due to which the appointment dates got postponed. But I created a telegram bot myself (perks of being a software engineer :P) which informs me about the slots every 1 hour and I successfully got an early slot to which I rescheduled without any extra charges.

I also have a bot to track the application post appointment, lol.

Documents Submitted:
[x] Visa Form

[x] Valid Passport

[x] Print of all the pages of the Passport

[x] Photo

[x] Cover Letter

[x] Itinerary

[x] Flight Reservations

[x] Train Reservations (Inter Schengen)

[x] Hotel Reservations

[x] 3 months bank statements, signed and stamped

[x] ITR last two years

[x] 3 months salary slips

[x] Employment contract

[x] Employer statement on approval of holidays (NOC)

[x] Credit card statement

[x] CDSL investment statement

[x] ID card

[x] Rent agreement notarized (only if showing BLR address)

[x] Travel Insurance

Note: This was my first Schengen visa and my travel history - Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia.