My family doesnât have a Schengen visa and I wonder if submitted GV application can increase our chances of getting a multi-entry tourist visa approved? Has anyone NOT from the US tried that?
I am talking about right after the submission, without any approvals or bio appointments in Portugal yet.
I donât think having applied for the GV will influence your ability to obtain a multiple entry Schengen visa. In general, you can be granted a one year multiple entry Schengen Visa provided that you have used three visas within the previous two years. You have be a regular traveller to the Schengen zone.
Depending upon the country for which u apply schengen visa, u can be granted first multiple entry visa for anywhere between 6 months to 2 years but u need to have recent history of multiple travels to europe atleast 2 or 3 in last 1 year. Some countries even ask for reason for multiple entry visa (which they reserve for EU spouse or relative or for business travel)- avoid them if u do not hv supporting docs.
The ease and success rate also depends on which non-eu country u are applying from.
But for all purposes, GV application is useless in getting multiple entry schengen even while applying for Portugal.
I think there are some terms that need to be well defined first.
A tourist visa is always a short term one. There is no such long term tourist visa.
A tourist visa can have single entry or multiple entries i.e. you can enter the country multiple times but rule of stays: 90 days per 180 days must be respected.
A schengen tourist visa can have a validity up to 5 years with multiple entries.
Some years ago I had a Schengen tourist visa (issued by french embassy) with validity of 3 years and multiple entries. I used this visa to enter Portugal and completed biometric.
Understood. I thought it shows my intention to immigrate to Portugal as opposed to using their embassy to get a Shenzhen visa and travel elsewhere. Lots of people abuse Spanish or Greeks visas like that.
We have a history of multiple travels but last time we got a visa of one county and travelled to another. I think itâs tracked somehow, they check if hotels we booked were used or cancelled after the fact. And one visa was revoked because we cancelled the hotel right after getting the visa stamped into our passports 
With multiple entry schengen visa, that problem of adhering to itinerary should be solved if u ensure medical insurance during stay, and have return tickets (even if with flexible dates). I have many times in past got visa from one country and travelled to another (simply coz where I wanted to travel had no appointment slots available).
Cancelling of toursit visa after being granted coz u cancelled one hotel stay is news to me. When and how did they inform u of cancellation? This doesnt happen.
Go for multiple entry visa for particular country after doing research on rejection rates, documents required etc. Even the application forms for different countries are different- that will also help you decide.
Yes thatâs one I want to request a multiple entry visa after the application submission.
We were called by the embassy a month after getting a visa, telling us that because we cancelled our hotel(I guess the hotel people informed them upon the email request), theyâll revoke our visa. Not sure what it means practically. It wasnât the Portugal but Greece. Weâve been many times to Europe before.
The stated reason was selected out of several possible ones: âthere are reasonable doubts as to the reliably, of the supporting documents submitted or as to the veracity of their contentâ.
Hmmm maybe they thought that you were planning to do something illegal. Like overstaying.
I guess. We never did and not planning to, though. Not moving to Portugal until we get a resident card either.
When I applied for Schengen Visa, I also booked hotels in 2 parts i.e. 1 night in Hotel A (as cheap as possible) and the rest of the trip in Hotel B. Hotel B had an option of free cancellation within 24 hours.
After going thru the immigration control in the Schengen country, I canceled immediately the booking with Hotel B. I did not stay in Hotel A and still paid for it. I consider it as a lost. Please do not cancel your hotel before you pass the passport control in EU. They can always trace back and check every small detail. Only cancel once you are inside!
Btw what was the hotel name? So i can avoid itâŠ
Sketchy. Have you called the visa helpdesk to confirm?
Someone might be scamming you?
no we didnât. They included all our info and our application and didnât ask for anything in return.
Re-reading the explanation given to you by the embassy, they havenât explicitly stated that the reason for them revoking your visa is because you cancelled your hotel booking. There could have been other reasons in the documentation you presented.
Having your visa revoked in the fashion you described more than likely affects your chances of getting a Schengen visa successfully in the future. Have you been able to obtain a Schengen visa again successfully since your last visa was revoked?
Yes they explained the reason over the phone. Will try to apply to Portugal with a copy of the submitted application as a proof of good intentions 
Were you given a chance to defend yourself, e.g. explain that you cancelled that booking but replaced it with a different booking and your overall itinerary is still similar?
no, because
Iâd rather apply for a Portuguese visa and show my intend to move there, rather than deal with Greece again.
I see well thatâs a different situation. Technically I guess they were within their rights to cancel a Greek visa if you werenât going to Greece.
I cancelled my initial hotel booking but was still definitely going to Portugal and had no issues with a Portuguese visa.
I would caution against âshowing your intent to move to Portugalâ on a tourist visa. The tourist visa is not a settlement visa - your GV when approved and cards in hand is a settlement visa. In between you receiving residence cards and now, I would apply at the third party visa outsourcer (in your country of residence) with the intent to visit Portugal as a tourist, and apply as many times as needed before your GV card arrives.