What is a Flight Reservation and why do Embassies and Consulates Ask for it?

 

A flight reservation is a plane ticket that you reserve without paying. A flight reservation confirms that an individual holds a flight seat on an aircraft. Once you get your Visa approved, you can actually purchase your “reservation flight tickets”.

Why do Embassies and Consulates Ask for it?

Most of the embassies and consulates in the world do not obligate visa applicants to book a flight ticket, because they are aware that in case of visa rejection, then it will be inevitable for the applicant to lose his or her money. They even indicate in the list of required documents for visa application, that applicants are not obligated to buy the tickets but rather only to reserve the flight.

And, only after you get your visa, you may purchase the ticket you have reserved or cancel it and buy others in most convenient dates, within the time of your visa validity.

However, there might be exceptions where embassies or consulates in specific cases will ask you to actually purchase a round trip flight ticket prior to the visa interview.

As a proof that you will not be overstaying

The main reason why the embassy or the consulate of your travel destination country asks you for proof of a round-trip flight reservation is that they want to make sure you will not overstay your visa, and will get back to your home country before it expires.

Since, a round-trip reservation shows the departure and arrival to your home country, this is a convincing document that you will return. This means you have to book a round trip flight reservation, because otherwise your reservation would be meaningless.

However, this does not assure you that the embassy or consulate will issue you a visa. You will have other documents to submit alongside the flight itinerary, so you will have to be careful with them too.

Deciding the length of the visa

Another reason is to decide the length of your visa. The officials at the embassy or consulate where you are applying at will decide on the length of your visa based on the Itinerary Flight, so that you can get granted with a visa that allows you to stay at your destination country for as long as you need to, and not for a shorter period.

Deciding at which embassy you should apply

The consular officer wants also to make sure you are applying at the right embassy, in case you are planning to visit more than two countries. For instance, if you are applying for a ten-day short-stay Schengen visa, with which you plan to stay seven days in France and three days in Germany, then instead of applying for a Germany Schengen visa, you must apply for a France Schengen visa at the French embassy or consulate in your home country. But in case you are planning to spend five days in France and five others in Germany, then you will have to apply at the embassy of the country where you are planning to land first.

To make a Flight Reservation without paying the price you could use the services of Schengen Visa Itinerary. We also offer Hotel Reservation and affordable Travel Insurance to complete your visa requirements.