I, a Dutch citizen by birth, and my wife (Thai by birth with a Dutch passport) want to bring our Thai son (my stepson) and his Thai wife to the Netherlands for a 2-week holiday. They are officially married. Both have a job with the same employer (pharmaceutical company) in Bangkok. They are allowed to leave the employer for a maximum of 2 weeks (in March/April), the employer can put this in writing.
There is a private home in Bangkok in the son's name. Have your own car with a repayment contract. Salary every month and a reasonably full bank account.
They will stay at our house (in the Netherlands). The son also visited the Netherlands twice more than 15 years ago, but we cannot find that old passport.
What is the easiest way to get a Schengen visa for both? Which request? Request for tourist or stay with family? Do one or more documents need to be officially translated from Thai to Dutch or English? We are trying to obtain an English statement from the employer.
Please provide advice regarding the method that has a good chance of success and which documents really need to be translated for that application.
Other tips are of course also welcome.
Thank you in advance.
Dear Pieter,
There is no “easiest” path, the path you should take simply depends on the situation. If your son and his wife want to stay with you, you submit an application for “visiting friends/family”, if they wish to stay in a hotel or the like, then it is an application for “tourism”. If they stay with you, they can choose whether you also take care of the finances (by acting as guarantor) or whether they finance the holiday themselves. If they have a bank account with 1540 euros, that is sufficient (2 people x 14 days x 55 euros).
Whether you offer accommodation and do not act as a guarantor (son and wife show sufficient equity with the help of a bank balance or the like) or whether you offer accommodation and also act as a guarantor, it actually makes no difference. As long as the minimum requirements are met and the overall picture is “correct” (not strange, weird, questionable, etc., but just logical).
Thai documents must be translated into a language that Dutch officials can read: Dutch, English, German or French. It is easiest to have Thai documents translated into English by a sworn translator.
How the procedure continues, which documents are required, etc. is described in more detail in the Schengen file. See Thailand blog in the menu on the left under the heading “files”. In the article about the Schengen visa you will see a brief summary of the most important points and at the bottom you can click on “click here to open the file” to download a text file (PDF) where all kinds of situations are described in detail. That information together with the instructions from the government (NetherlandsAndYou, VFS Global, etc.) should be sufficient to submit a well-prepared application.
It seems you are already aware of the fact that proof of reliability (pointing out previous trips outside Thailand) and a plausible story ("we have 2 weeks of holiday, employer confirms this in a letter") are necessary, so I don't think you will Make a stupid mistake quickly and the application will probably be fine.
If you have any specific questions, please let me know,
Good luck,
Rob V
