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Hi Dmitri.

I was lucky enough to deal with the consulate directly so I don’t know about VFS appointments. The only thing I have heard is that if you are trying to book appointments for two people, it’s better to book them separately as they sometimes seem to give earlier appointments.

After our appointment at the Consulate, we were allowed to keep our passports and when the visa was approved, we could either take them back to have the visa inserted or send them by registered mail. As we lived fairly close, I took them in myself.

Good luck with your application.

@RobLane thanks a lot, really appreciate!

This could vary from one consulate to another, but ... I just read someone saying that if you intend to hang on to your passport, they need a notarized color copy of the passport "picture page."

I would bet that at least at some offices, the copy doesn't really need to be notarized - but I don't know if I'd make that bet with the stakes being whether I get my application accepted on the scheduled date.

@donn25 good point, thanks!

Hiya,

At my VFS appointment in London they told me I could keep my passport if I had a pre booked flight that I could prove (show them your ticket)

this of course might change.

might appointment was in september.

best of luck

@Shama Dan , thanks a lot! Very useful!

we retained our passports to go on holiday but had to prove we had tickets for the holiday. The visas still got processed and we got a call to go to the Portuguese Consulate to have the visas stuck in the passport, this took about an hour. Hope that helps