How to get Schengen visa for an academic conference?

Travel can sometimes be a happy byproduct of a business trip, especially for a student traveling to present their research in an academic conference. For conferences in Europe, one often needs to apply for a European visa (also called a Schengen visa) in order to attend the conference, and potentially do some nice budget travel on the way. In this article, I am going to write the complete procedure for getting a Schengen visa for the purpose of attending an academic conference to present a paper or a poster. I applied for a Schengen visa with an Indian passport from USA as a student on F1 visa. I would give tips and tricks to make sure that your visa application goes smoothly and successfully. 

Type of visa and country selection in Europe

The type of visa for attending an academic conference in Europe is a business visa. This is the option you would select on the Schengen visa form., even though you are just a student or a researcher. The Schengen visa application needs to be submitted to the embassy of a particular country in Europe. According to the rules, you should apply to the country where you would spend maximum number of days. If you spend equal number of days in multiple countries, then the coutnry where you first land has to be the application country. Since you are primarily going for a conference and tourism is (and should be) a secondary motive, my advice would be to plan the trip such that you spend maximum number of days in the country where the conference is being held. In that case, things become very simple and you simply apply to the embassy of that country.

Your next step should be to go the particular European country's visa website and follow the procedure outlined by them. In USA, Schengen visa process is handled by a company called VFS. You can visit the VFS website in order to get a Schengen visa appointment.  

Can I add personal days for tourism in Europe after the conference?

Absolutely! I did that and it is not an issue as long as the correct documentation is submitted with the right intent. I showed hotel reservations for the duration of the conference near the conference venue, and then added personal days to explore Europe in multiple countries. The key is to make a detailed itinerary and submit proof of accommodation demonstrating that. In my case, the conference was in France and so I submitted my Schengen visa application through the French embassy. However, I added personal days to visit Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.  In my application form, I indicated that I need a single entry visa for the duration of my proposed stay in Europe. 

Inviting person section in the Schengen visa form

The section that asks for persons or organizations inviting you for your trip should be filled out with the details of your conference organizers. You woudl need an invitation letter from the conference via email. You can use the name of the person who signs the letter and their address/contact details in this section. And for the section on accommodation address, use the address you would be staying in during the conference days. You don't need to add addresses of all the personal tourism days that you might be taking. 

Standard list of documents needed for Schengen visa for attending conference

The documents required for the Schengen visa can slightly vary depending upon the embassy that is processing your visa. There are some general documents which would be the same across all countries in Europe. Here is the list of documents I submitted for the Schengen visa when I applied through the French embassy:

1. Valid passport with at least two blank pages

2. Passport size photograph glued on the form (I submitted only one that was glued to the form, but safe to take another loose photo). See Schengen visa website for exact photo specifications. 

3. Photocopy of passport front and back page

4. Photocopy of all pages of current valid passport that have entry/exit stamps and any prior visas inside the passport

5. Signed and dated Schengen visa application form

6. For students in USA on F1 visa, a copy of the valid F1 visa, copy of valid I20 and most recent I94 printed from the internet

7. Invitation letter from the conference organizers: Very important and most conferences easily send it via email. Make sure you tell them that the invitation letter should contain your name, date of birth, passport number and passport expiry date. 

8. A no-objection or supporting letter from your department in the university or employer. It is simply a letter that states that they permit you to visit Europe for the conference during the days you are requesting the visa and that you would have to return to continue as a student/employee after your visit. Make sure the dates include the personal days as well, just to be safe. 

9. Current enrollment certificate (for university students to prove that you are a continuing student)

10. Round trip flight ticket : I used printed email confirmation which had my name and PNR/booking reference number

11. Proof of accommodation: For every single day (including personal days) that I was going to spend in Europe. I used printed email confirmations. 

12. Travel health insurance: Purchased minimum 30,000 euros insurance from Europ assistance and printed the insurance certificate. 

13. Printed reservations of internal transport I used within Europe. This is optional but could be nice in showing that you have planned the trip and prepaid for most of the things. 

14. 3 months bank statement showing a decent consistent balance for proof of funds. 

15. A cover letter that simply describes that you are primarily intending to attend the conference where you will present your research in a talk/poster titled 'X'. You can then add that you intend to add personal days to explore some sights in Europe. I then neatly tabulated a day-by-day itinerary of my entire plan in Europe including conference and personal days. I also wrote a list of documents that I submitted in the cover letter.  It was a 2 page cover letter to help the visa officer in getting a holisitc view of my application. 

How many days it takes to get the Schengen visa?

I got my Schengen visa through courier 9 days after my document submission appointment at the VFS center. Generally, Schengen visa is processed within 15 days. It's better to apply for the visa as soon as possible to give yourself enough time for any delays that might occur in an unfortunate situation. I got a multiple entry Schengen visa valid for 3 months.

Although the Schengen visa process seems daunting due to the long list of documents and planning, it is easy to get if you compile the documents correctly. The idea is to be thorough and honest. If you submit the list of documents that I mentioned and make a reasonable itinerary, I ams ure your Schengen visa application would be successful.

Happy exploring!