I have just lodged a formal complaint with the EU commission regarding the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh. The behaviour of the official who works in the visa office is almost indescribable. Never in 30 years of working and living abroad have I been treated so rudely and aggressively. My wife (who is a Thai national) left the office in floods of tears. We were planning a holiday to Spain, but so affected was she by this man that she is now refusing to go. This is the portrait they are showing to the world and I am amazed that no one has yet taken any action against him. However, aside from his behaviour, my formal complaint surrounds the incorrect application of EU law1as described in Directive 2004/38/EC European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April 2004 which is about the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the EU and EEA member states. I am a UK citizen. I am married (for 4 years) to a Thai lady. She holds a Thai passport with a UK residence permit contained within. We have 3 children. 1 who is from my wife's first marriage (and therefore holds the surname of her biological father) and 2 who are offspring of me and my wife. The first child holds a Thai passport with a UK residence permit. The other 2 hold British passports. Last week we all traveled 3 hours from our house to the consulate in Edinburgh to obtain Schengen visas for my wife and eldest daughter (the one who is Thai). We were planning a visit to Fuerteventura. The man behind the desk was unbelievably rude not only to me and my wife, but also the the man who was served before us. When we were called to the glass screen, he told me to 'Go away. This has nothing to do with you'. I said that my wife did not speak English so good to which he replied, 'I am Spanish and I have learned English. She should learn better. Now if you do not go away I will not serve you'. I could not believe what I was hearing. The malice and racism of the man was incredible. I sat down and he began to speak to my wife. After about 5 minutes she came over to me clearly upset. I asked what was wrong and she said that she had no idea what he was talking about. Just then the man then called me over to the glass screen. He said 'You do not have the documents we require. This woman cannot even understand basic English. You need to go away and get the correct documents'. I asked him what documents as I thought we had brought everything. He said he would not discuss this with me. I said that I was the lady's husband and we had traveled a long way. I demanded to see the consul or a senior person. Incredibly he then said that I had a bad attitude! However, my demand to see a senior person seemed to change him. He said we did not have the correct number of copies. He pointed is to a copy shop across the street and away we went. When we came back, he took the copies and explained that as my wife was the spouse of an EU national then she did not have to pay for her visa. I said that I knew this from having sought advice beforehand. However, he said that as my eldest daughter did not have our surname she had to pay! I said that this could not be the case. My wife's passport and her daughter's are clearly linked and her residence permit clearly shows her right of abode in the EU. I explained that the British government clearly accept that we are a family as they pay family allowance to all of our children. All of our children have EU Health Service cards which I attempted to show him. I said it could not be correct for us to have to pay for our daughter. The official then said 'If you do not want to pay then I will issue only one visa and (pointing at my daughter) she can stay in the UK and not go. I don't care'. At this my daughter began crying. I was totally disgusted by this and went outside to my car with her. I took my wallet and gave my the 50 pounds that he was demanding. I did not want to go back inside the office as I was so angry. Apart from then having to get 2 new photos and a Special delivery envelope, I did not have any further dealings with this man. I could not face him as I did not want to lose my temper. In all my years I have never experienced anything like this. Apart from the incorrect charging for a visa, the sheer ignorance and racism of the official beggars belief.and cannot be the image that the Spanish want to show the world? The visas arrived at our house yesterday. I have therefore formally complained primarily about being charged for a visa for a member of a family of an EU member, but also about the conduct of the official. In my research over the past few days I note that this situation has occurred many times before. It is a fact that the British authorities would not have granted us either a tourist visa or a residence permit to my eldest child if there was any doubt that she is my wife's daughter and my step-daughter. This was not good enough for the read more

i would love to put a negative star for them, because they do not even deserve one star. I am a Chinese national and wanted to apply for a Schengen visa to visit Spain for 10 days. paid my holiday package already but now it seems like i am about to loss all my money on the holiday. i firstly used http://es.vfsglobal.co.uk/index.html ,which directed me to apply in London. Arrived there on time for appointment and was told since i am living in Manchester i have to apply in Edinburgh. is that a joke or what? No explanation was offered whatsoever for the need to go all the way to Edinburgh. Arrived in the Edinburgh Consulate, told to run to the other street to get a prepaid envelop. Being a consulate themselves, shouldn't it be more reasonable to provide it themselves? surely they can include that cost in the visa fee, like the way London consulate was doing. that guy over the counter start to scrutinize my doucments and ask silly questions which he himself can get the answer if look carefully. among my documents was an E ticket with a unique reference number for the holiday package which i already paid every penny for. He looked at it and asked me where my flight tickets are. i told them that they are E ticket, no actually tickets issue. he looked so angry and raised his voice at me, saying' your application is incompleted, you shouldn't be here when you don't have all the supported documents. i don't want you to be back in one hour, or 2 hour's time, you get back here in half an hour!' to cut the story short, it took me almost 2 hours but still not get what he asked for, because the flight tickets can only be issued in 3 weeks time and i am travelling in a month's time. my agent was saying they never come across a case like this and would represent me if that rude guy can phone them to verify. i went back to the consulate, sat there waiting for at least 45 minutes before serve me. its obvious that he saw me but deliberately let me wait for him. he simply pointed to his watch and say' u are suppose to be back at 11.20am,u are 2 hours late. i tried to explain to him that the document he ask for does not exist. he seemed impatient and repeated the same thing' you are 2 hours late, i cannot accept your application today'. i was so furious, no one ever treated me like that before. i applied for various visa before and normally get them at first attempt. and this time he even refuse to take my application! he was so arrangant, rude and disrespectful. How can someone like him sit there? all our money down the drained now, since the holiday package is non refundable read more

Genuinely disgusted by the treatment I have received over these past two weeks. I am an international student at the University of St Andrews who had wished to travel to Spain over my post-exam break this coming week. The visa officer (who indeed seems to be the very one described in all the past reviews) was an absolute nightmare I was constantly told that I was stepping out of line when I replied to any of his questions, and that I was interrupting him if I provided any information beyond a direct answer to the questions he had. He was rude both to me and the applicant before me, who spent an hour arguing with him before I had a chance to approach him. I was informed that my bank statements were not adequate on my original day of applying and was asked to return with another specific set of documents. I returned with those and was told by him that they weren't valid because they were not bank statements belonging to the UK, even though he had specifically asked for them two days before! Upon asking for instructions or advice on what documents he felt were lacking (as he maintained so clearly that they were), he shrugged and said he wasn't allowed to comment. Things like Madame, you think this is a joke? This is the country of Spain and scoffing and sighing while I was speaking were frequent occurrences in the conversation. Overall, he was sarcastic, unhelpful and incredibly condescending. I am disappointed that a country like Spain is represented by individuals like him. Having travelled extensively around Europe and most other parts of the world before, this has been a shock. I am waiting until 1 pm today to hear their final response to my application. Once that is dealt with, I plan on lodging a formal complaint until someone has the decency to reply to me. It would be a much stronger argument if several of us (i.e. any past or future reviewer reading this) would like to present our cases and our disappointments collectively, so do let me know if you're interested. read more

It's more like going to boot camp or a very strict military school. My husband and I had an interview a few days ago and the guy in the reception area was alright and asked us if we had made copies of everything. We indicated that we had all the required documents and the photocopies. We were then interviewed by an extremely rude, pompous and overbearing individual who certainly lived up to his online reputation stated in other reviews of the Spanish Consulate. That said, the lady behind the counter seemed affable and helpful. We also noticed that any person who was Spanish / spoke Spanish and had a query was being treated very nicely and without a trace of contempt. He spoke to my husband and I like we were dimwits and told my husband that there was a stain in the application form and that this was being disrespectful to the application process. My husband mentioned that one of the children must have got their hands on it and he apologised. The guy also spoke to us like a stern headmaster and said that the Spanish consulate made every effort to provide information about everything and we tourists who wanted to travel to Spain couldn't even follow simple instructions. He seemed incapable of listening to logic and reason and acted very boorishly. Perhaps Spain needs to remember that us tourists pumps money into its economy and probably take a cue or two from the Swedish consulate who were nothing but polite, friendly and courteous. If extra photocopies needed to be made, it wasn't made to seem like we were idiots, they were royalty and it was the end of the world. Perhaps, they were less in need of getting their ego's stoked unlike the dude behind the counter who probably hadn't heard of customer service to begin with. read more

I would give negative stars if I could! We were supposed to be travelling to Spain on Sunday and the guy at the counter said we'd have the passports by Saturday. We said we were willing to pay for extra postage to guarantee delivery on Saturday (special delivery does not guarantee delivery on saturday unless you pay extra) he said that would not be required. forget delivery on Saturday, I just received the passports today (Wednesday). I had rebooked my tickets and changed them from Sunday morning to Wednesday morning but it's all money down the drain now. Will end up losing almost 600 quid if you add up the cost of the visa, the flight to edinburgh, flight to spain(plus change) nonrefundable accommodation fees etc.. The guy at the counter was rude and obnoxious and I suspect doesn't really like human beings in general, especially noneuropeans. He most definitely has some serious mental issues. I have a Tier 1 Visa (UK) and also have a US Visa valid for 10 years. I have also been issued a multiple entry Schengen visa by the French embassy earlier for three months and I have travelled to Europe before. This guy issued me a single entry visa vaild for one month. Now what the heck am I supposed to do with that? Does he really think I am going to live in Spain abandoning my life in the UK? This entire excercise has been like setting fire to a pile of bank notes!!!! read more

Dreadful (male) desk officer at the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh although the woman working there is polite and professional. The man is incredibly rude and patronising. I am taking my family on holiday to Spain- putting thousands of pounds into the Spanish economy which desperately needs it. As my children are adopted from Africa we need Schengen visas and thus I had to visit this office. Had I known the hostile and gratuitously offensive manner in which I would be treated, I would have taken my family to another country. To cap it all, on returning to pick up the visas today, the doorkeeper complained that my two 18 month old children had been running around the waiting room. What do they expect from babies? they were playing quietly and happily during what was for them a boring wait. I have written a letter of complaint to the Spanish Consul in Edinburgh, and copied it to the Consul General and the Ambassador in London. The consulate here seems to have no idea of how to treat its customers.I am a doctor, and if I treated my patients in this way, would be reported to the General Medical Council. If a business treated its customers like this, it would soon go bankrupt. It makes me wonder if the consulate has any interest in supporting the Spanish economy by treating potential tourists and professional visitors politely and professionally. RW read more

Hi Guys, Was a bit apprehensive when i went for my Visa appointment today. I had read reviews about this awful guy who works there and i was determined not be run around by him (even if it cost me to lose my visa). So this morning i went to the visa office and the guy at the reception was professional and doubled checked if i had all the documents. He politely informed the couple behind me that they were too early for their appointment(it was 9.05am and their appointment was at 9:45). Once i went through the first thing i looked was to see who was behind the counter and it was a female. I have to tell you she was professional and to the point. I had missed out the address of where we staying on the form she asked me to fill that in and then gave me the option of either collecting the passport or sending it via post if i had the envelope. I see so many -ve comments here and i think i was lucky to get this lady. So my experience all together has been very good and very professional. I thought i will write this review so others who visit the embassy don't lose all hope even before they step in. Good Luck! read more

hi i am going to log a formal complaint i am so disgusted with the attiude and iggorance of the man behind the desk no one should be treated like that even on the phone when you speak to them their is no help at all i am still waiting for a appointment for my wife i sent them a email on wendsday 13th july then again on 15th july 2011 and when i rang them up the man on the other side just ignored me and put the phone how rude is that i have lived in uk for 35 yrs self enployed and you have people like this no way would you get this kind of attitude in the british consulate. At the moment so stressed out me and my wife have booked a holiday for the 4th august 2011 but my wife needs a visa to go spain and i aint getting no where with it and when i phoned up the spanish consulate and told him this his reply was well it aint my problem he had no inttetion of helping me going to see my mp on monday and hopefully she can advise me on what step to take.People like this shouldnt be allowed to work behind a desk read more

Well I can attest that the infamous Spanish man behind the counter is really as rude and condescending as other reviewers have stated. My advice to anyone booking a visa appointment would be to book it well in advance as they are very busy and I had to wait a month for the next available appointment. Also, when you arrive make sure you have all the documents required and in the correct order, along with a separate, identically ordered set of photocopies. Don't arrive more than 10 minutes early, and bear in mind that they only accept cash payments, and you will be yelled at for thinking otherwise. You may also be yelled at for: not speaking loud enough, not having your papers in order, having to retrieve your purse from your bag when asked (commanded) to make the payment, and any number of other travesties. In fact just be prepared to yelled at, spoken to in an obnoxious manner and made to feel like an unwelcome inconvenience, and you might be psychologically prepared for the experience. Happy holidays! read more

My wife and i are trying to sort out our NIE number so we can purchase a property in Spain. I have never before had such a problem getting information on how to do this!!!!. They never answer the phone, or the person you email never ever replys. We have emailed now and wrote to the embassy on i would say some 10-12 times still with no reply. We even tried other Spanish Consulate offices in an attempt to help us but with no success. We are now thinking again on the matter of wheather its a good idea or not to buy a property in this country !!!. A friend of ours in Spain has recomended that we go to the local spainsh town hall where we are looking to buy a property as they says its easier their and no hassel ???. No wonder their economy is in such a state. Just thinking about a trip up to Edinburgh to the Consulate but not sure what documents we need and dont fancy a round trip of 250 miles on several occasions if we dont have right documents with us. read more

If I also could write a negative star I would. Family holiday ruined. This man is obviously an extremely unhappy man, thriving on his own power of working at the Spanish embassy. Rude, arrogant, nasty, sarcastic and condescending. The letter of complaint is written to both embassies, if this was any other profession he would probably (hopefully) be fired. I know that if I spoke to parents or students in this manner, I would be fired as a teacher immediately. A humiliating experience and an infuriating outcome which has meant no holiday. I am sure he goes to sleep at night very proud of his actions. There is so much more I could say, my advice, choose a different holiday destination, this man puts the beautiful Spanish people to shame. read more

The staff are rude , have no customer service and reallly dont know what they are doing. I had an appointment, had all the correct documents listed for the visa, the girl said she was unable to except it as i didn't have a hotel booking. I then had to re- apply for an appointment which wasted a week as there was no appointments available next day . I then went for the appointment and gave them my hotel booking , the man who took my documents said I didn't need hotel booking. So what a big waste of my time and hours spent waiting, I now only hope I will get my visa in time for my trip. as it takes a minimum of 4 weeks and theyve already wasted one week unneccessarily by incompetant staff. Has really put me off visiting Spain. read more

A shame on Spain and a joke in 21st century. The man behind the glass treats people like cattle, and show no respect at all. They live in 18th century, and simply know nothing about digitized docs in our age. Website filled with confusing and contradicting info. Especially for a country suffering economy difficulty and pickpocketing issues, it definitely puts a bigger negative image on Spain. Are they the emperor on the earth? No, they are mere one of many Schengen countries and yes, you have dozens of alternatives instead of this arrogant and ridiculous one. For example, the German Consulate not far away is far better than this prison. Dont use it ever, I warned you. read more

Despite the fact that my experience with this consulate is very far from being as bad as the horrendous story related by smogmag, I can confirm that the visa officer there has some serious mental issues. I have very seldom in my life encountered a person as negative as him. His countenance is as empathic as a brick and he constantly strives to demonstrate his frustration with the applicants. It is a shame that the Spanish government chooses to have such a troubled person as a representative of their country, especially given the fact that for some applicants he might be the one giving the very first impression of Spain... read more

Please AVOID.The man who sits in the window has no self respect and treats others without any courtesy or respect.he will insult you ,shout you ,and will make you feel like you are living in dark ages. i read reviews before seeing him and was mentally prepared but i was mentally upset for many hours after seeing him. He will find problem in everything you have taken with you ,he will treat you so bad that you will think twice before going to spain again . Avoid this plagued place . read more

Is this consulate a joke ? The man with the beard behind the Visa's counter,I have never in my life encountered such a rude,despicable,racist human being.There are so many online complaints being made about this consulate and this particular individual.Why is nothing ever being done about it ? The female staff were ok but the man behind the Visa's counter.God help you if you have to deal with him !! read more

If I can I would put negative. I did apply for tourist visa,and I find Consulate and Global centre HORRIBLE!!!!! Really unhelpful,if u r in trouble with visa is no any way u find any one who can help u. No any suggestions to sorted ur problem.VERY VERY BAD!!! Waist of money and time.Is allot more country's u can spend ur holiday. read more

There were rude, nervous and fidgety they don't even let you ask question, they do not Respect you. I applied for Schengen visa. It is hard to git appointment with them and they want copy for every paper not like the office in London you can easy git appointment and and the paper are less then this rude Consulate. read more

This place is a joke! Despite scathing reviews their attitude seems worse than ever. Utterly rude staff and incredibly racist, they treat us the customers as if we were subhuman. I think the staff forget they are here to serve and provide a service. Would much rather give no star as they do not deserve one. read more