Dear editors,
Two questions about applying for a Schengen visa:
1. My Thai girlfriend is working on a one-month Schengen visa through an office in Chiang Mai. They suddenly ask that she must have Baht 60.000 in her bank account in the unlikely event that something happens in the Netherlands, so that she can pay for it. Thought I'm responsible for that? In addition, she has a medical insurance of course for those months.
2. Has anyone ever used the € 34 per day rule, so that the entire financial guarantee is not necessary. Then she must have about Baht 45.000 in her account for a month. You have state pension and do not officially meet the income requirement.
Would love to hear from people who have done this.
Regards,
Do
Dear Will,
1. There is no requirement for 60.000 baht anywhere. That is about 1500 euros. As you yourself indicate, you have the medical travel insurance if she has an accident and you will pay the regular expenses (even though your friend is formally the guarantor if you do the guarantee with his income because your state pension is not sufficient to meet the 100% minimum wage requirement). In short, the embassy will not ask her to show such an amount. Of course it can't be lost if she has some money in the bank, but it's certainly not a requirement. I wouldn't know at all how people think to come up with this specific amount.
2. She can indeed guarantee herself with 34 euros per day of stay. She will be staying for a month so the math is simple:
34 euros x 30 days = 1.020 euros. At a current rate of 40 baht per euro, that is almost 41.000 baht. In order not to go over the ditch with the heels, a bill with 45.000 baht would be more than enough. That's how I did it at the time when I couldn't guarantee myself with my part-time income.
She already had some savings herself, which I then supplemented (considerably) so that she could come for 90 days. I had transferred that money a month or two before the application, firstly not to do everything at the last minute but to be well prepared in time, but secondly also to avoid getting any questions. A substantial amount in the account, just before a visa application, can raise questions. Was that money really donated to her and therefore her property? Or has it been borrowed 'for a while' from the sponsor or even a loan-shark and she won't be able to own it when she comes on vacation? The requirement is clear that someone must dispose of that money himself and there should be no doubt about that.
At the border, the border guard can also ask you to prove that you have 34 euros per day of stay (for the Netherlands, other Schengen countries ask for higher or lower amounts). If there are any doubts, the KMar can refuse entry to the Netherlands.
Visa bureaus can be very useful, especially for people who are a little less adept at preparations such as gathering information through brochures and other official channels or who then feel drowned in information and would like some guidance to keep seeing the trees in the woods. With some patience, attention and good reading, an application can be done very well yourself, although not everyone has the time or inclination to do so. A visa office is therefore not necessary but can be useful. However, be aware of agencies that actually do little or no work at a high cost. The embassy therefore warns that it is absolutely not necessary to pay tens of thousands of baht to these types of agencies.
Also be aware that the agency has a good and up-to-date knowledge of the matter and handles each application separately. The authorities (for the Netherlands this is the RSO in Malaysia) also weigh everything per file. There is no guaranteed way to get a visa. For example, you wrote me in an e-mail that the visa office wanted some photos of you together because without this a visa would be rejected. Nonsense, when assessing a visa application based on a visit to friends/family, one naturally wants to know whether the sponsor and the foreign national know each other. A few photos will often be part of the evidence, but that is not an absolute requirement.
Sponsor and foreign national must demonstrate themselves with the resources available to them that they meet all requirements. You can know each other quite well and demonstrate this without photos. If you have a photo together, it can - in addition to other evidence - not hurt to show that they know each other. But thinking logically already says that although a photo can say a lot, it does not say everything, it is not hard evidence. A photo alone doesn't really say anything. A good visa agency also knows that the situation will differ per applicant and that each application therefore requires its own approach. Fine if you have a common approach that applies to many people, but if you only work in one way as a kind of routine work, then you have to ask yourself if you are not just trying to make easy money.
Regards,
Rob V