Maxi-Pedia Forum

hello everyone
I need your help. I applied for my schengen visa to belgium in friends/family short stay visa category. However, it got refused. Earlier I was going to Belgium to meet my boy friend who lives there and I am studying in UK with my country of residence being India. I applied for 1 and a half month but they took 13 working days to send my application and I just have this month now as I am going back to India next month. My question is can I apply as a tourist this time as I will be travelling to Amsterdam also and since I donot have much time I will be applying for 15 days or so.
Please help me with this confusion. Thanks in advance everyone.. :)

Sure you can apply for a Schengen visa for the purpose of tourism (rather then visiting friends), though they will be able to see in the database that your application was refused by the Belgians. So be sure you meet the criteria and be prepared to answer some questions about the refusal.

Especially make sure you convince them that your trip is affordable (34 euro's per day for NL, I believe 38 per day for Belgium), that your purpose is genuine and that you will leave the Schengen area in time (ties to your home country and ties to the UK were you currently stay for studies). 

You may also appeal the Belgian refusal, it's free. See why they refused it and try to adress those issues. If it was refused for risk of overstay or settlement, show evidence that show you have good reason to return in time. You should be abelt to do both similthaniously: visa request with the Dutch and an appeal with the Belgians.

Thanks a lot. Actually my friend is working there in Belgium on-site from India. He has a residential permit of Belgium, but embassy people mentioned that its not a permanent residential permit. Also, another reason was showing ties to the home country, again I showed my university letter of UK, but since my course got over in September and I am expected to graduate in December, this was an issue. So that is why I don`t want to take a risk this time and apply as a tourist. This time I have an offer letter from a company in India where I will join in november and university letter also.. So I hope they don`t create a problem this time.. also if you can help me with all the documents. I have my letters, both from university and company, my bank statement, my travel plan, my travel document, my itinerary and travel health insurance. Is this enough? And again how much time do they generally take?

Thanks in advance..!! :)

Having an offer from a company in India will surely help in convincing the embassy that you have ties to Indies and that you will not overstay the visa. In addition to the offer letter, try to get something more precise, for example a confirmation of your acceptance stating the date of your start of the work, etc.