Get in your home country or country where you live, before arriving. You'll have the visa issued by the embassy and can show to immigration and use it to get your permission to stay.
they are doing their bit to root out people who don't have the money or want to play the system and not use their own money but agent money. Freezing the money required for the visa? I don't have a problem with that.
Where are you coming from.. Amsterdam. Some will put another transit country but that's not really where you are coming from because you're coming from Amsterdam. Either way though it's usually accepted to put the transit country even if you never entered it.