Applying to Schengen Visa but no train tickets

Are you a U.S. citizen?

If you are a US citizen and you are only going to be in Europe for a month, you don't need a visa at all. If you are not a US citizen, you should address your question to the appropriate consulate since I doubt that there is anyone here who could answer it accurately.

For your train ticket, are you looking at the German Rail website, http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en? You should be able to book 90 days ahead. If that doesn't work, try the Swiss Rail site, http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html. I just tried Frankfurt to Zurich on the Bahn website, and can book as far ahead as August 9, 2013; after that, it shows schedules, but you cannot book yet. By the way, if you're looking for Zurich on the rail sites, use "Zuerich." Spelling it "Zurich" only shows the airport, not the city itself.

I think the OP means that she needs to book her train tickets for the purposes of obtaining her visa. I am not sure we can accurately answer that question here.

Unfortunately, I'm not a US citizen that's why I need the visa.

To Nancy, Thank you. I wrote them an email and they didn't respond. I will contact them again.

In Europe you don't have to book train ticket ahead. You can buy it at the station just before you go. There are many trains between Germany and Switzerland. It's not like here in the US where you have one or no train going your direction in a day.

Phantira - can you explain what your specific need is in some more detail? Before my wife became a US citizen, we went through the hoops of getting a Schengen visa for her several times. There was never any need to show train tickets. Unless something has changed, here is all they should need from you: 1. A general travel plan - without too many specifics. Give them your arrival date to Europe and your departure date. You do NOT need to tell them "one day 2, we will be here, on day 3, we will be here"... etc. In my experience, if you give them more detail, they will only ask for greater documentation to prove your details are true. "We arrive from the US in city X on this date, this flight; we depart from city X back to the US on this date, this flight" should be enough. 2. You do need to give them your first hotel for your arrival city (we did). But only the first one. I told them: "we will be staying at this hotel in this city for one night, after that, we will make plans day by day, traveling independently." I did have to provide contact info for the hotel, and I believe they did check to see if we had a reservation. 3. Do not "overshare" (to use a contemporary term). One time, I gave detailed travel plans, with a day-by-day itinerary, a custom map printed showing our route and how many days in each place, attractions we would be seeing, etc. (I do this stuff for my own planning purposes). I figured they would appreciate the detail. Not so! They looked at my map & itinerary, d that I was obviously on a commercial tour, and demanded to see hotel reservations for every night. From that I learned the same guideline that applies when answering questions in court or when speaking to a cop: give short, simple, direct answers, and only answer questions that they ask. Do NOT volunteer anything else. Hope that helps.

Hi there, I think you are over thinking it a bit! From what I remember, you need: - Round trip air ticket: Open jaw in this case (Germany, Switzerland) - Confirmed accommodation and a general itinerary of the trip - Health Insurance acceptable to the authorities - Proof of sufficient funds to cover your stay - Related forms and photos etc... - US residence permit: Green card or whatever.
- Reference letter from your employer (should confirm that you are of good character and intend to return to continue your employment, in other words you have not resigned) And that is it. I've never heard of anyone being asked to show proof of travel reservations within the Schengen Area and for trains it would make no sense because some trains can't be booked in any case.

Dear All,
Thank you so much for all of your answer. I appreciate it a lot. The embassy replied me that it is ok if I cant submit the train ticket ipn Switzerland dute to the matter but I havew to inform the interviwer about that. Last year when I applied for Italian Schengen visa, I submitted all of my hostel reservation and all the train tickets for the whole trip along with air ticket so I try to do the same this year. Thanks once again and I hope to receive the visa.