Schengen visa question & answer: What about booking plane ticket for my Thai girlfriend?
Dear editors,
I am trying to compile a 'short stay' visa application file for my girlfriend who wants to visit Belgium. I have two questions regarding the plane ticket.
In Foreign Affairs I read that proof of transport is not required when submitting the visa application in order to avoid unnecessary costs. However, proof of booking a return ticket may be required.
I have inquired at a travel agency, but they do not know what a proof of booking is. Either you buy a ticket or not?
Does anyone know what such proof of booking is and how to get it without buying a ticket?
A second question concerns the prices of the tickets. When I look for a ticket from Bangkok to Brussels, it is almost twice as expensive as if you depart from Brussels to Bangkok. Is there any way to get around that?
Yours faithfully,
Yves
Dear Yves,
It is indeed not wise to buy a plane ticket in advance, a booking or option on a trip will suffice. This is easy to achieve by calling the airline of your choice and indicating that you wish to travel but first have to wait for a visa application. They then give an option/reservation that will automatically expire if you do not convert it into an actual booking (payment) within a certain period (say a month). For example, me and my Thai partner first looked online for a date that was best in terms of time and cost. She then called the airline's office (for us that was China Airlines) in Bangkok, and they reserved a seat for her. She received proof of this by e-mail. After the visa was granted, we actually paid for the ticket. This cost us nothing extra compared to simply buying and paying for a ticket online.
Flight tickets from Thailand are indeed often a lot more expensive. You could search for promotions, these are also announced on Thailandblog. You can also see if you can fly cheaper at another airport. You can enter, travel around and leave the entire Schengen area on a Schengen visa (except in exceptional cases). For example, your partner can enter via Amsterdam (Schiphol) and depart again, or depart from Brussels (Zaventem). From Europe, “open jaw” tickets are cheaper than direct returns, for example, a ticket Amsterdam – Bangkok – Düsseldorf is often cheaper than a flight from Amsterdam to Bangkok and back. You may find a cheaper ticket this way.
The condition is that it remains plausible that Belgium is and will remain the main residence, so traveling in via Athens will raise the necessary questions (or it should happen that you first go to Greece together for a week and then spend most of the time in Belgium , of course with transit tickets), but entry via an airport in neighboring countries is very likely. You can drive home within 1-2 hours.
If requested, someone at the border must still be able to demonstrate that this person meets all the conditions, so have your partner bring a copy of all documents that were submitted to the embassy with the application. Even better, pick her up yourself. If people at the border still have questions, she can prove with papers that she is coming to you, and if you are there yourself, they can still call you.
Good luck with the application.
Sincerely,
Rob V