Dear Rob
Because my Thai wife has a new passport, she must reapply for a Schengen visa. She has already had a visa three times in the past 7 years, so I assume that she will get a multiple entry visa again this time, for 5 years.
I have a few questions about this: One must provide an itinerary in the form of a flight reservation. Suppose she makes a reservation for departure at the end of March 2024 and return flight at the end of June 2024. If the visa is granted, are you obliged to stick to these dates or can you also travel from the end of April to the end of July, for example?
Second question: She owns a house in Thailand. Should she have a translation of the Tabien Baan [blue booklet] made and will all original documents be returned after submission?
Yours faithfully,
Harrie
Dear Harry,
Since your wife has already received a visa for 7 years (with validity of 2 or 5 years), she is now eligible for a multiple entry visa (MEV) of 5 years. Of course, you can also simply indicate this on the application form, but according to the regulations, this MEV should simply be allocated, even unsolicited.
In answer to your questions:
1. This should not be a problem with a multiple entry visa, if you think your trip will be from March to June and when you book the flight it turns out to be April to July, there is nothing to worry about in your case. hand. However, I recommend that you indicate as accurately as possible the desired entry and exit dates on the application form and make a ticket reservation with the same dates. Now, using a multiple entry gives you a lot of freedom and leeway when it comes to your travel dates: she can go to Europe whenever she wants PROVIDED she adheres to the rules of “staying here for a maximum of 90 days and then staying outside Europe for at least 90 days”. But if, however unlikely, she does get a single-entry visa, you won't have this leeway... and part of the holiday would be ruined. So out of habit, but provide the data as accurately as possible.
2. You are free to choose which evidence you provide. If you want to prove that she owns real estate (land, house, etc.) in Thailand using a Tabien job or deeds, these must be officially translated into English, Dutch, French or German. These should also be legalized. When submitting the application, you NEVER have to hand over original documents. You can still show them at the counter, but they will only accept copies of supporting documents. The only document that you will have to temporarily hand over is of course her passport, so that the embassy can paste the visa into it.
As far as translations are concerned, as I also indicate here on the blog in the Schengen dossier, you are free to do so. Having all kinds of documents translated and legalized can be quite expensive. A Dutch civil servant can also understand some documents in Thai, with a brief explanation (such as a balance on the bankbook). A copy of the bank book with a circle/hatching around the balance and the comment "<–Balance". And for supporting documents with multiple pages, you could, for example, only have the most important page(s) translated, as the decision official does not have time to read through stacks of documents. If one sees “the applicant claims to have ties with Thailand through ownership of a house”, a single translated page showing this should be sufficient to make it plausible that the applicant indeed has a house/land in his name. Imagine that you are someone who knows nothing about the applicant and knows nothing about Thai documents, how do you show such a person with the help of supporting documents (in a language that the official speaks) that you meet the various requirements? Don't go too crazy, but don't show up practically empty-handed either. In short: the golden mean.
Previous applications have been successful, so it will probably work out again this time.
Success!
Yours faithfully,
Rob V