Schengen visa question: Visa validity

Dear editors,

First of all, I would like to say that I find this blog to be a great source of information for a lot of things related to Thailand. After that I want to give a little explanation about our story and close with a question.

I have known my girlfriend Parida for almost 6 months now. Met her here in the Netherlands as she was on holiday with family. After a few short encounters, she went back to Thailand. I myself have never been there and never expected to meet a lovely woman who gets out of there. Thanks to the great invention of the internet and video calling, we got to know each other well from a distance and now we really want to see each other again, of course.

So on June 16, the lady went to a "lady" who helps her with all the documents. I had already prepared and sent everything necessary (thanks to this forum and a bit of information from elsewhere). On June 22, she had the appointment at the VFS, which I thought went pretty quickly because I saw here and there that making this appointment would take more waiting time (something of 2 weeks or longer).

She said she didn't have travel insurance yet and didn't need it. After all, this was not necessary during the previous times when applying for a visa (which took place in November 2016). Still, I advised her to do so to avoid questions, or worse, a rejection. The visit to VFS lasted approximately 30 minutes. We were told we would receive notice in 15 days.
This was exactly right because yesterday (7-7-2017) she received an email back from VFS.

Email 1
“Dear Parida ….., A decision on your Visa application reference number: NLBK/…../…./.. has been made by Visa back office. Your application has been received at the Netherlands Visa Application Center and is ready for collection. Please note this is an auto generated email. Please do NOT reply to this email.”

Email 2
“Dear Parida……., Your processed visa application reference no.NLBK/……/…./.. is dispatched to you via Thai post today. Please note………….”

So no clarity via email, at least not for us. Bales, but good. So wait for the mail. Fortunately, despite “Asalha Puja / Dharma Day”, this arrived in the mailbox on Saturday. She can go to the Netherlands again for 90 days.

Although she has not been able to demonstrate that she would return, we still have an approval. She has no registered work, no home, no children, she doesn't have to take care of anything. Only her former visit and the reserved plane ticket were sufficient proof for her return, apparently. We have also not been able to properly demonstrate that we have a serious and lasting relationship. After all, there are only 2 pictures of us together. Miles of chat conversations, but they don't care. So I guess we just got lucky?

Now the question:
The visa states the following:
Valid for Schengen States
From 14-07-2017 to 14-07-2018
Type C
Number of entries MULT
Duration of stay 90 days
I thought the visa would be valid for a maximum of 180 days, but it turns out to be valid for 1 year? Can someone explain this date indication? Is it true that you have 1 year to use up those 90 days? And the number of entries says "MULT", does this stand for 'Multiple entry visa' and does this mean that she may enter the schengen states several times? For example 3 x 30 days?

It says on her previous visa
Valid for Schengen States
From 18-11-2016 to 03-03-2017
Type C
Number of entries MULT
Duration of stay 90 days
So this visa was only valid for 3,5 months?

I hope you like my story and maybe useful and that you can answer those little questions 🙂

Greetings,

Edwin & Parida

Dear Edwin,

First of all thank you for your nice story, love just happens to you too, or more precisely, when you don't expect it.
Regarding your question: your sweetheart can come to the Schengen area in the coming year (14/7 to 14/7). However, no one should ever:

• stay in the Schengen area for more than 90 consecutive days.
• Exceed this 180-day maximum in any 90-day period.

This simply means that if she's in the Schengen area on any given day, you look back in time up to 180 days and then peat whether you're at the 90-day maximum. A day later you look back at 180 to see if you are going over 90, the next day you look at the 180 for that date and so on and so forth.

With 90 days on and off, this is easy to do from memory, but if someone travels up and down frequently. One time 7 days here, then 12 days in Thailand, then again 35 days here, then again 42 days there, etc. Then it becomes more difficult to check. Fortunately, the EU Home Affairs has created a tool for this:
https://ec.europa.eu/assets/home/visa-calculator/calculator.htm

First enter in the long column the arrival and departure dates of her previous stay or stays in the Schengen area. You can deduce these dates from the arrival and departure stamp that the border guard here in the Netherlands (or elsewhere in the Schengen area if you do not travel via the Netherlands) puts in your passport. Then enter the day that your sweetheart wants to set foot on this at the top of the 'check date' field and you can see at the touch of a button whether this is possible. It is therefore indicated how long she can stay. You actually know enough with that.

If your sweetheart wants to use the visa to the maximum, she will come here on 14-7, stay the maximum of 90 days, then leave again for 90 days. She has been here for 180 days in a period of 90 days and then comes here again for 90 days, and then again for 90 days. But other combinations are also possible: 30 days here, 30 there, 30 here, 30 there, etc. Just make sure she is never here for more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

This is also in the Schengen visa file here on the blog. Some details are outdated such as the exact way of applying for the visa (nowadays you can choose between handing in at the embassy or at VFS, at the time of the file VFS only did the planning and they did not have a counter in the Trendy Building yet) . You will also read that MULT does indeed refer to a multiple entry visa, or MEV for short.

VFS is an optional service that foreigners (such as Thai tourists) can use, but they are not required to do so. The actual decision-making procedure is in the hands of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It decides whether someone gets a visa or not. VFS is, to put it bluntly, just an optional paper pusher. They go through a checklist with the stranger and you can expect them to do their best to provide a good service even though you may ignore their advice, all they say is really nothing more than advice. They have no say in the procedure and do not know what the outcome is. If someone has chosen the VFS route, VFS handles the paper sending and receiving, but VFS does not know what Ministry of Foreign Affairs does in the back office either. They can therefore not say whether someone has received or will receive a visa, only that the passport is on its way or is ready.

Perhaps unnecessarily, I also insist on it in the file, but make sure that with every trip she always meets all requirements, such as being solvent (via a guarantee for example), possession of medical travel insurance, etc. At the border or even (but unlikely) during the stay, the foreigner can be asked to demonstrate whether he meets all the conditions of the visa and if the authorities (border guard) are not convinced, entry can be refused. A visa therefore does not entitle you to stay.

Finally: have fun together!

Regards,

Rob V