The assessment for obtaining a Schengen visa will disappear from the tasks of the Dutch embassy in Bangkok as of 1 October. From that moment on, the Regional Support Office (RSO) in Kuala Lumpur is responsible for granting a Schengen visa (Short Stay Visa).
Cuts in embassies
The Dutch government has started to cut back considerably and the consequences will be felt by the Dutch abroad. For example, the Dutch embassy in Bangkok will also have to tighten its belt.
The Dutch in Thailand may be confronted with this in the form of a reduction in services. The consequences of this are already visible on 1 October. Because then the assessment and issuing of Schengen visas will be centralized at the Regional Support Office (RSO) in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
Consular section of the Dutch embassy in Bangkok
The editors of Thailandblog visited the consular department of the Dutch embassy in Bangkok on April 26. We were allowed to watch for a few hours in the kitchen of this busy department, more about this in later posts.
Decision and granting of visa to Kuala Lumpur
One of the most striking things was the announcement that part of the work that is still being done in Bangkok will move to Kuala Lumpur as of October 1. This concerns the final decision and granting of a visa for the Netherlands (Schengen area). As a consequence, the visa applicant's passport and file will be sent to the Regional Support Office (RSO) in Kuala Lumpur. There, after the visa has been granted, the visa stickers are printed and pasted in the passport.
The collection and control of the necessary documents will still take place in Bangkok. As a result, little will change at first glance. It is possible that 'urgent visas' will be more difficult to handle, but this cannot be confirmed yet. The Dutch embassy in Bangkok will probably find a solution for this so that 'emergency visas' (such as medical situations with family in the Netherlands) can still be issued quickly.
No consequences for MVV
This change will have no consequences for the MVV procedure. MVV applications were already assessed in the Netherlands and never at the embassy, and this will remain the case in the future.
In other words, they will no longer be able to get the passport back the next day (or at some other embassies the same day) - I think they won't be flying back and forth every day. According to treaty agreements, should the application not be processed within 3 working days (I think so, in the EU short-stay visa survey they also ask whether it will be completed within 3 days). So I'm curious about the expected processing time: how much time will there be (minimum/average/maximum) between submitting documents and receiving them back? How much time does it take (minimum/average/maximum) between scheduling an appointment through VFS Global and receiving the passport with the sticker in it?
And evidence in Thai, what are they going to do with that? These may be papers that can make the risk of settlement less likely. If you have to have all documents officially translated into English or Dutch, you will incur costs and spend more time on preparation. That doesn't exactly lower the threshold...
All in all, a significant decrease in the level of service for tourists who want to visit our country. The risk of something going wrong will also increase slightly, more links... a piece of paper or passport will soon be lost temporarily or permanently...
Practice will show what the balance will eventually look like and whether it was therefore worth it if people cut their fingers (fewer travelers to our country, for example, and therefore less income).
Just checked: According to Regulation EC 810/2009 Article 19, the visa department may take 15 calendar days to decide on an application. They can extend this by half a month to 30 calendar days if additional documents are required. In very exceptional cases, they may take 60 calendar days.
So I count on the CKV handling going from a working day or 3-5 to a minimum of 1, a maximum of 2 weeks (1-2 times a week by diplomatic airmail everything to Malaysia and back). I was confused with the direct MVV application after a positive message from the IND, the MVV visa can then be stuck at many embassies within 1-2 days (for example hand in in the morning, back in the afternoon or the next working day).
In any case, it will clearly not be faster or more accessible... The opposite will happen.
Another very smart civil servant who came up with this. I can imagine that BZ wants to make cuts and, as indicated here, centralize certain consular services. In the context of ASEAN, that is not such a bad idea at all.
But to then leave the assessment of the Schengen visa to Kuala Lumpur is simply ridiculous. Malaysia is not a “Schengen visa” country, so a new department will have to be set up there: talk about cutbacks!
Most Schengen visa applications undoubtedly come from Thailand, so it would make more sense to centralize ASEAN applications in Bangkok. In addition, the Dutch Embassy has Thai staff, who can simply communicate more easily with applicants.
In addition, it should also be said that the number of applications of a questionable nature (prostitution, etc.) will increase considerably. Count out your profit!!
There was an error in the article. The assessments do not go to the NL embassy in Kuala Lumpur, but to the Regional Support Office (RSO), which is separate from the embassy there.
I assume that a relatively large number of items will be merged, including Indonesia, for example. And Malaysia is the most centrally located. In short, it is logistically the most efficient/cheapest so that the bottom line saves the most money. It would be incredibly stupid to set up an entire department (start-up costs) that then also costs more per period than merging these services at an existing post (for example Thailand). Or did they make the decision by drawing lots (dart arrow on the map)? 😉 So assume that various considerations have been made and that this choice has therefore been made. But is it the best choice in the long run??? I wonder.
My first fear (besides longer lead times, more bureaucracy/complexity), is precisely that applications will be rejected earlier because, for example, some supporting documents are not known or accepted. When in doubt, people will still give negative, and someone who is further away from the applicant will doubt more (want more info) I guess??
There was an error in the article. The assessments do not go to the NL embassy in Kuala Lumpur, but to the Regional Support Office (RSO), which is separate from the embassy there.
Moderator: Your comment is too generalized and based only on conjecture, not on facts.
And I just think that you are not allowed to issue an official document (passport) and now they send it themselves to another country with all the risk.
How will it go then? Now the applicant must appear in person at the embassy
I managed to get a visa for my Thai, but don't ask how! Outrageous, traveling to BKK 5 times, something was always wrong. All's well that ends well, but the Ned. Embassy is a drama, at least for me!
Dear Henk, you already gave the answer yourself. Your papers were not in order. If you make sure they are in order, it will be viewed in 5 minutes. Never had any problems, excellent service and service.
Same experience here, carefully reading what documents you need (not too bad, the most important/difficult one is proving your destination and making the risk of settlement implausible) is a piece of cake.
We had forgotten to check one box on the standard Schengen form (I remember question 1 or 33 about financial support and accommodation), which was an and/or form whereby both the foreigner and the inviting party can act as guarantor (with cash). etc.). However, when completed digitally, this was an either/or form. If you entered something in the left row (foreigner), you could not tick anything on the right (host) and vice versa. Actually a formatting error in the PDF. But at the counter this was corrected manually by simply checking a box that we had skipped. Had an accompanying letter about the purpose of the trip and why she would return in my name (written in English) and a copy in the name of my girlfriend in Thai. That Thai duplicate was not necessary and was not accepted. That made my girlfriend nervous ("They did not accept my document! Somethnig was wrong with the Schengen paper as well!") but it turned out to be a fuss about nothing. Perhaps the desk clerk could have been a little clearer about this.
The necessary documents are neatly on the website of the national government and VFS Global (in Thai and English) so knowing what is needed should not be the problem. Collecting the pieces can be a bit more difficult depending on the situation. Just try to prove that you do not pose a risk of establishing if you are out of work or something, then you have to present other evidence (for example, care for children or elderly parents).
The handling by Mrs Verkerk (now succeeded by Mrs Deveci) was excellent. Always received a prompt response by email from both ladies. So nothing but praise for the Dutch embassy staff. The Thai staff still needs some improvement (a little more empathy and understanding for the nerves of people who come), but that's about it.
Nothing scandalous Hank! I have nothing but praise for the Dutch embassy in Bangkok! I think I've applied for a visa at least 20 times in all those years, both for my wife and for friends, and never had a problem. Always treated neatly, and everything has always gone smoothly. If the papers are in order, there is no problem. How everything will continue now remains to be seen, but I have only had good experiences.
Have often been there and nothing but praise for their service and customer friendliness of the employees there!
Really it is a piece of cake to obtain a visa and what do you mean scandalous?
Perhaps that is why it is a good suggestion to take your own responsibility from now on, or to immediately submit the correct completed documents, because then it will be arranged in no time and it will remain with one trip to the Dutch embassy in Bangkok.
I was at the embassy the other day, it was really a coming and going of Thai tourists who came there for a visa, it seems to me that someone already has a day's work to assess all applications, that your other South-East Asian. Centralizing countries, where there are far fewer visa applications, does not seem unreasonable to me, but when a day job is filled with it at the embassy in Bkk, it seems more logical to keep these tasks there.
I don't understand it completely! The collection and checking of the documents, most of the work, will continue to be done in Bangkok. So nothing changes. The passports are only sent to Malaysia to put a visa in them??
Granting a visa is of course more than taking documents and sticking a sticker in a passport. Most of the work is done by the case officer. That is work that will always be done by a Dutch civil servant.