Dear all,

I was hoping to get insight from you guys because I am planning to go to France this December for Chrismas. I checked the requirements for the visa and they are requiring proof of bookings for the hotels and all. However, me and my friend are still not decided whether we want to cross the borders to Netherlands , Czech Rep or Italy.

So my question is, is there a different visa the French government releasing for tourist other than the Schengen Visa, wherein it is only limited within the territory of France, and therefore if ever we have decided we wanted to cross country afterall we cannot do that because, our visa is restricted. I am really hoping that eventhough I declared in the application that I am only visiting france, the visa that they are going to issue to me is Schengen and therefore I can go to Schengen countries.

Please comment or confirm if you do have an idea about this. Thanks in advance.

What nationality are you?

Citizens of most countries where access to France is restricted to visa holders and it's possible to post on forums at 1013 GMT need a full visa to enter France, with proofs of bookings etc.

Australians, Japanese etc don't need a visa to get into France for holidays lasting 90 days or less.

If you require a visa to enter France then you need to apply for a visa at the French embassy. That visa by default will be a schengen visa that allows you to visit all other countries within the schengen zone.

chillout, by default so you mean to say whether I declare or not in my visa application that I will be entering other states does not matter they will give me the same visa, which is Schengen.?
correct me if Im wrong.

Correct, once you have fulfilled the requirements for a French visa, you may enter, using that same visa, any Schengen country of which there are currently 26.

Here is more information. (Note: this website does not mention Liechtenstein which makes the 26th country)

http://www.schengenvisa.cc/

Wandering-Gal - where do you live? You may not even need a visa, period, whether for France or the other countries you mentioned. But do tell so that we may be able to be more specific if that's what's needed.

Just checked your profile - it says Dubai. So more to the point - what nationality is your passport? That will make the difference.

If you are a national of the United Arab Emirates,which includes Dubai, then you do not need a visa to enter the Schengen zone for up to three months.

Michelhuebeli & chillout, I am just having a permanent residency here, however, my passport is from my country of origin which is Philippines. So I definitely need a visa. I guess I wont be declaring that I will be entering other schengen states so that I dont have to present other train tickets and hotel bookings as I dont have it yet but I want to apply for the visa this month.
Thanks for your help. appreciate it.