Schengen visas by destination country

The member state of your main destination — judged by the purpose of the trip, then by where you spend the most nights. If neither settles it, it is the state you enter first. The consulate finder walks the rule in order.

No. Applying to a state that is not your main destination is a straightforward inadmissibility, and consulates do check the itinerary against the application. Appointment scarcity is a real problem, but the answer is applying earlier, not applying elsewhere.

The core list comes from the Visa Code and is broadly common, but each state sets its own means-of-subsistence figure and adds its own local requirements, and each has its own arrangements in the UAE. The differences are on the individual destination pages rather than averaged into one list.