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I wish to travel to Canada, and stop over in Europe for 3 months on my way there. I'm Indian, so I require both a Schengen visa and a Canadian visa.

Logically it should be Schengen first and then Canada but would the Schengen guys ask for a valid Canadian visa for them to grant me a Schengen visa? I fly out of Brussels to Montreal. Can't find information about this online.

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  • I edited your question to make it a bit more generic. I don't think the answer will depend on the fact that you're Indian -- it's probably going to be the same for anybody who's traveling to Canada via Europe and who needs both a transit visa and a visitor visa.
    – David Richerby
    Commented Mar 18, 2017 at 16:12
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    Not all Schengen countries require a visa for airside Transit for Indians. Are you entering a Schengen Country (Clearing Immigration)? If not, where exactly are you transiting?
    – Crazydre
    Commented Mar 18, 2017 at 16:13
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    In the absence of all other information, where Schengen is concerned you start with the premise's country and then work in reverse order for the rest. So for you it's Canada and then Schengen.
    – Gayot Fow
    Commented Mar 18, 2017 at 16:20
  • Hmm. Order of obtaining visas is probably better.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Mar 18, 2017 at 23:54
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    I want to travel around Europe for 3 months before going to Canada. So I need to get two visas and am trying to see which one should be applied for first.
    – Vivek
    Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 0:38

3 Answers 3

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In normal circumstances the Schengen application does not care for your Canadian visa; because you are simply applying for a tourist visa to the Schengen area for three months.

However, I believe you plan on submitting an itinerary for your Schengen visa that shows you staying in Brussels for 3 months then departing to Canada; and this case you should already possess a valid visa for Canada before you apply.

In case you want to avoid this, you can submit an itinerary that shows you are returning to India, secure your Schengen visa, and then apply for your Canadian visa.

Then you can adjust your itinerary to fly to Canada from Brussels. Once the visa is issued it does not matter from where you depart to Canada.

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According to the Czech embassy in Delhi, a round trip booking must be submitted, meaning you have to present the ticket to Schengen and to Montreal.

Thus, they may well want to see the Canadian visa. As such, you should get the Canadian visa first

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    That site is notoriously unreliable!
    – user4188
    Commented Mar 19, 2017 at 12:26
  • Not sure why the question was edited to mean transit. I want to stay 3 months in Schengen and then go to Canada for 3 months.
    – Vivek
    Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 0:35
  • @Vivek Good, edited my answer, but please tell us where in Schengen you'll spend the most time, or, if you don't know, where you'll enter the Schengen Area
    – Crazydre
    Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 5:55
  • Entering in Prague and would be applying to Czech Republic embassy.
    – Vivek
    Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 8:02
  • @Vivek The correct thing! My answer stands then. Get the Canadian visa first, then the Czech one.
    – Crazydre
    Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 8:21
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Applying for a visa to a Schengen area country in Europe or for a Canadian visa are two independent procedures, so you can choose to apply for the visas separately or simultaneously. However, since you mentioned that you want to spend three months in Europe before you travel to Canada, it might be logical and wise to first apply for and be granted the visa to a Schengen area country in Europe (such as Belgium or France) so that you will know for sure that this part of your journey is taken care of; then apply for the Canadian visa when you have more reliable details about your expected arrival and departure dates for Canada. If your trip to Canada is the priority destination, however, and the visit to Europe is merely a desirable advance stop-over, you might want to secure the Canadian visa first (noting that the processing time for citizens of India is about 18 days), then apply for the Schengen area visa (which may take less time to process).

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  • Would make sense in an ideal world but the Schengen area is notoriously strict. I asked this via email to the application centre for Czech Republic in India and they suggested that I get the Canadian Visa first.
    – Vivek
    Commented Apr 11, 2017 at 5:27

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