Despite the fact that Italy is a rather hospitable country, there are often situations when travelers are denied a visa to visit it. What to do in this case? Let us further consider the answer to this question in more detail.
Where to file documents
When planning your trip to the EU country yourself, you need to know where to apply for a visa to Italy. Practice shows that for this purpose it is necessary to contact the representative offices of the diplomatic mission operating in large cities of the Russian Federation. In the event that it is planned to draw up a reusable document of a national nature, then you must immediately go to the Italian Embassy, located in two Russian cities - in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
If desired, applicants can contact intermediaries. As a rule, travel agencies act as such.
What is a failure
After the period allotted for consideration of documents submitted for obtaining a visa to the country, the tourist runs the risk of being refused. This means that the person does not have the right to visit the specified country. Moreover, if a visa is refused to Italy, the risk of receiving a negative response to requests for permits to visit other countries of the European Union increases.
Practice shows that in especially serious cases the refusal can be for 12 months, which means that it is impossible to re-submit documents for obtaining permission of the nature in question during the year.
How often is a visa denied to Italy? Practice shows that such situations are quite rare. Moreover, in any case, the tourist has the right to challenge the decision made by the consulate.
What does a visa denial look like?
The Consulate of Italy, providing a refusal to receive a document, affixes a special stamp on the page of the passport. On the printed imprint, you can see a certain cipher, in the meaning of which lies the reason why a visa was refused. How to decrypt data?
Practice shows that the most common cipher is 1C, which indicates a ban on issuing a visa at the moment, and also, in some cases, over the next 12 months.
In some cases, stamps with other designations may also be affixed. So, the 2C mark indicates the truthfulness of the data submitted by the citizen, and 3C indicates that for further consideration of the application, the tourist must visit the Italian Consulate for an interview and clarification of some substantive issues. As for cases of refusal due to the inaccuracy of the provided data, as a rule, the reason for the current situation is the error in the process of filling out documents.
In the event that the representative office of the diplomatic mission refuses to grant a transit or multiple entry visa, the stamps are marked 1A (2A, 3A) or 1D (2D, 3D), respectively.
Quarantine
In fact, there is such a thing as visa quarantine. It is defined as a temporary ban on entry not only into Italy, but also, as a rule, on the territory of other states assigned to the Schengen zone.
In the event that a potential traveler sees on his stamp a mark 4 with a Latin letter, then this is a sign that he will never be able to visit the territory of Italy under any pretext.
In case of refusal, indicated by the Latin letter with the number 1, the tourist is also subject to quarantine, but only for a certain period. As a rule, it is about 12 months.
How to hide the ban
Practice shows that, having been refused a visa to Italy, some tourists try by any means and tricks to hide it. So, some of them put other marks on the stamp that can cover it. However, practice shows that in this way the question that arises is not resolved - this method can only aggravate the situation.
In some cases, a worthy solution is to replace the passport and change the name - in this case, there is a high probability that the Italian diplomatic staff, considering the newly submitted documents, will not notice the previously issued refusal.
The only legal way to challenge an issued decision to deny a visa to Italy is through the appeal process. And the minus of such an exit is that far from always the people who used it receive a positive answer in their favor.
Denied a visa to Italy. What to do next?
It should be noted that the refusal to provide a permit is a remediable situation if you act in it correctly. What exactly needs to be done immediately after the detection of an unwanted stamp in the passport?
First of all, it is necessary to understand in detail what exactly was the reason for such a decision. Refusal of a visa to Italy without explanation is impossible, so you need to study all the marks that are on the stamp and, depending on their value, move on.
After studying the reasons for the refusal, you should start writing a written appeal to the consulate. The document should indicate in detail the essence of the existing claim. Moreover, documents that may be suitable to challenge the situation and may influence its consideration on the merits should be attached to the appeal.
What happens after the appeal is reviewed
Practice shows that the average time for considering an appeal is about a couple of weeks. After the specified period, the applicant receives an official response to the request in writing.
In the event that, based on the results of the consideration of the appeal, the commission’s decision was changed to positive, the applicant receives his passport with a visa. Moreover, an official apology letter is also attached to all of this. In the event that the decision does not change, then it shall be considered final and not subject to appeal.
It often happens that persons who have been denied a visa to Italy decide on a personal visit to the consul for an individual examination of the issue on the merits. This situation is possible, but in practice is quite rare. It should be noted that the possibility of its implementation directly depends on personal circumstances.
If the refusal was issued through the fault of the intermediary
It often happens that potential travelers apply for intermediaries to apply for a visa to a country, one of which may be a travel agency. What should I do if a refusal to provide a permit was issued due to an error made by an intermediary?
Practice shows that in this situation the representation of the diplomatic mission does not distinguish between errors made by the applicant and any intermediaries. If you still want to get a visa, an appeal will have to be done in the standard manner by filing an appeal.
Some experts in this situation recommend that the client carefully read the contract that was concluded with a travel company. Practice shows that, as a rule, based on its contents, the client has the right to recover from the guilty person all funds paid for his services, as well as moral damage in a certain amount.
If a groundless refusal is given
Very rarely, but there are situations when a tourist is denied a visa to Italy without any explanation. In accordance with the established rules, the representative office of a diplomatic mission of any country must clearly explain the reasons for the refusal of a traveler to enter its borders. Italy is no exception.
On the basis of this rule, in the event that the reason for the refusal of a visa to Italy is not indicated in the official document, it can be declared invalid. Based on this fact, such a decision may be appealed in court. Practice shows that this method is very effective, although it requires considerable time costs.
Who has the minimum risk of rejection
Statistics show that there are certain groups of people who have minimal risk of failures on the issue under consideration. These include those citizens of the Russian Federation who have a bank account drawn up in the name of the applicant with a large amount of cash recorded on it. Based on this indicator, a person should be recognized as financially independent. If desired, a person has the right to confirm his financial viability by providing other documents reflecting his financial situation.
If the applicant has previously received at least one visa to any Schengen country, this circumstance can also become a factor minimizing the risk of a person getting a refusal.
It is no secret that representatives of EU diplomatic missions are quite meticulous about those who are not married and who want to visit a country in the Schengen zone. So, if a person is married, then he automatically refers to the number of those citizens for whom the risk of receiving a refusal to provide a permit is minimal.
When submitting a package of documents for obtaining a short-term visa, you should be aware that for a guaranteed permit you need to provide a complete list of certificates and official papers confirming the purpose of the trip indicated in the application form. In the event that the purpose of the trip is not clear, a visa refusal to Italy is inevitable. Accordingly, those who provide a full package of supporting documents are not at risk.
Key Failure Myths
In the modern world, there are a lot of myths regarding the refusal to provide a permit to cross the border of Italy. One of the most common among them is the replacement of a passport or pasting on top of the stamped visa refusal of another state. Practice shows that in this situation this is not an option, because when applying to the diplomatic mission of the country, a strict check is carried out for previously issued visa refusals - for this, work is being done with the Schengen Information System.
Among some representatives of the Russian population there is an erroneous opinion that after receiving a refusal it is possible to re-apply to the embassy only after 6 months or a whole year. In fact, if all the reasons for the refusal have been eliminated, the person has the right to apply at least the next day, but this does not apply to decisions made for a certain period. In the event that all the indicated errors have been corrected, there simply will not be grounds for a repeated refusal.
How to avoid failure
In order not to be denied permission, it is necessary to provide a complete set of all required documents. However, practice shows that this is far from the key to success.
Some experts in the field of tourism note that visas to Schengen countries are more readily issued to those citizens of the Russian Federation who previously received permits to other states. That is why when planning a trip to Italy, it is advisable to first visit those countries whose visa application process is simpler.
Why can they refuse a visa to Italy? One of the common causes is the untruthfulness or fallacy of the data. Particular attention should be paid to all the information provided. So, for example, if in the number of documents certificates are issued from places of work, it may happen that representatives of the commission considering the documents wish to verify their authenticity. For this, a call to the place of work can be made. In the event that the data are not confirmed, the person runs the risk of being refused a visa. It should be noted that if no one answered the contact phone number indicated in the certificate at the time of making the call from the consulate, then the information provided is considered to be unconfirmed.