Apply for a Tourist Schengen Visa at least 15 calendar days before your planned trip to the Schengen Area. This is the deadline for submitting your application. On the other hand, you must apply for a tourist visa to the Schengen Zone at least three months before to your trip.
Its best to apply for a Schengen Tourist Visa at least two weeks before your travel. The Embassy Consulate will then respond in 10 working days (or less in rare cases), depending on how long it takes to process all of the papers and the traveller’s request. If there is something special about the individual case or an unusual political context, the process could take up to two months, depending on the circumstances.
In general, if you consider your visa application is more complicated, such as if you have been needed to provide a large number of supporting documents for officials to verify in relation to your work or studies, you should expect your Schengen Visa to take longer to process.
This is also true if you are applying for multiple visas as a family or friendship group. More applications mean more paperwork for officials to deal with, which means there’s a better chance one of your visa applications will be slightly delayed.
Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up the Schengen Visa processing period beyond the 15-day limit. However, you may be able to minimise delays by ensuring that your visa application and supporting paperwork are clearly filled out, brief, and easy to understand. This will ensure that no unnecessary delays occur.
A tourist visa is usually only valid for up to 90 days. Its a good idea to fill in the “multiple entry” gap on the application form if you’ll be travelling a lot and not only in one Schengen country. This way, you’ll be able to come and go as you choose within the Schengen Zone for the duration of your visa.