Hi All,

We are going to Switzerland and France during 16-21st April.
We are spending 3 nights in Paris after 2 nights in Switzerland, so our main destination is France, hence applying for schengen from French embassy via tlscontact.
Me, my wife and my 3 yr old kid are the travelers in this trip.

There are some visa related clarifications I seek from fodors expert.

1. We are from india currently in uk. So do i need our marriage certificate get stamped from Indian embassy. The certificate is printed in English as well as in local language (Bengali), and the certificate is filled up in English only and there is a stamp of marriage registrar.

2. The hotel booking is done from booking.com, and these are not prepaid booking, payment need to be made at hotel during the stay. Can this lead to refusal of visa?

3. The schengen visa documentation says that in the hotel booking all members name should be printed. For our case its one room, and only my name is mentioned. How can i get my wife and son's name printed on the booking confirmation.

4. Do I need to arrange any letter from British social service stating our son is going with us?

Please help me answering these questions and wish me luck.

Thanks.
Debojit

>>There are some visa related clarifications I seek from fodors expert.<<

Fodors is not the place to ask these sorts of immigration/visa questions - you need to get your 'clarifications' from the French authorities.

I can answer some of them.
You probably won't need marriage certificate - just everyone's passport.
Booking site like booking.com isn't suitable for Schengen visa application. Make a booking direct with hotels. Get everyone's name listed on booking confirmation. Make sure booking is refundable in case your visa is refused.
If your son is your own child, you don't need anything other than his passport.

You should always check with the embassy of the country you intend to visit--and its website--and not rely on fodors for this sort of information. Here you are likely to get anecdotal information which may not always be accurate.

Getting a visa can be a huge hassle. Get the visa first, then plan the details of your trip.

Thanks for all your comments

I believe that an internet travel advice forum is exactly the place to ask for travel visa advice.

No one is saying that it is a substitute for the official source. Just as a home improvement forum isn't a substitute for an experienced plumber. Or a health forum isn't a substitute for a medical doctor.

But people willing to share their experiences, in any of the above, can be of great help to a person with a question.

When researching my own travel visas for several Asian countries, internet forums provided valuable information and tips. I felt better prepared when I eventually applied.

I agree that Fodors Europe forum is probably a bad place to ask for such advice, but only because most of the people here are from countries that don't need visas to visit Europe and the chance that you'll be told you shouldn't ask the question is much greater than the chance you'll get a useful response.

Fodors is great for asking about trains, planes, hotels, sights and restaurants.

But when it comes to the legality of border crossings - we are total amateurs. I would think the only ones that can help are Indian citizens resident in the UK (uncertain of that status - are they tourists, temporary residents, visa holders????) that previously traveled to France.

If we have anyone who qualifies on the board I would suggest the OP put those specifics in a question to try to get a response.

Or - contact the French embassy.

Even if there were someone here who could answer these question definitively, would debojitk simply explain away any immigration problems by saying he did exactly as he was told on Fodors?

The best advice you have had is to contact the French embassy.

Embassies and consulates differ widely in offering visa advice. A few (decreasing number) are helpful and forthcoming on a free-to-call phone number, but increasingly you are directed to a premium line number staffed by commercial visa agents under contract, who just read off scripts taken from embassy or foreign ministry websites (so you are wasting your money). Anecdotal experience from fellow citizens may be useful, but beware rules change and differing individual circumstance.

Please don't confuse not have the answer/advice yourselves with the assertion that travel visas is not an appropriate topic for a travel forum. Should the following have been removed from this site as inappropriate/off topic?

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...for-russia.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...late-in-ny.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...t-validity.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...on-arrival.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...n-required.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...ect-answer.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...sa-expires.cfm

As far as the hotels, even though you reserved them through booking.com, you can call the hotel directly and ask them to send you a booking letter with all names on the reservation.