Schengen visa question: Waiting time for applying for a schengen visa at VFS in Bangkok
Dear Editor/Rob V.,
I would like to respond to a post by Joop on Thailand blog dated 08-02-2019 that he could only apply for a Schengen visa on April 4 at the VFS Visa office in Bangkok van de Ned. embassy when he consulted the VFS website on 08-02-'19.
I was somewhat confused by this, because my Thai partner wants to land in the Netherlands around April 2, and also had to apply for her Schengen visa on February 8.
I emailed VFS in Bangkok that same day, and my partner called VFS on February 10th. By email I received a neat answer that the information posted on Thailandblog is incorrect. My partner was immediately confirmed by telephone and was able to make an appointment with VFS in Bangkok on 25 and 26 February to complete her Schengen visa application. There are 10 days between February 26 and February 15, so approximately the minimum waiting time that normally occurs between the date of making the appointment and the date of the appointment.
Hopefully with this post I can dispel some anxiety regarding the waiting time for making a schengen visa at VFS in Bangkok.
With kind regards,
Rob
Dear Rob,
Thank you for your feedback and I don't want to alarm anyone, but the information I gave was and still is really correct. Visa applicants can choose between submitting an application to the optional external service provider (VFS Global) or to the embassy. Both have a counter that collects the papers and then forwards them to Kuala Lumpur. Of course VFS indicates that you can go there in time, it is true. But VFS and the embassy actually have to admit that you should be able to get to the embassy in time.
Joop indicated that he wanted to apply not to VFS but to the embassy, but that he could not make an appointment at the embassy in time. He could also have chosen VFS, but he didn't want to. The embassy is at fault here and in violation of the EU Visa Code by not scaling up in time and unnecessarily increasing the waiting lists for an application at the embassy. This is mainly because the embassy has had less to spend in recent years, but there are more visa applications. People prefer to see you go through VFS, even if it entails extra costs (almost 1000 baht), and not everyone is happy with VFS.
But indeed, if you have no objections to the voluntary use of the external service provider, you can quickly go that route. With VFS it is easier to deploy more staff. Something the embassy fails to do. Most people I think will take this path of least resistance and then choose or "choose" VFS.
Regards,
Rob V
The relevant reader question from Joop: www.thailandblog.nl/visum-short-stay/schengenvisum-question