Schengen Short-Stay Visa for Thai Wife

[ilms]

My wife (Thai), son and I wish to travel to Austria this summer to visit friends. I'm not from an EU country but I don't need a visa. We live full-time in Thailand. We are planning to stay at our friends' house there (3 1/2 weeks) and thus won't have need of paid accommodation. Our friends are an Austrian citizen with an American spouse.

I'm confused about a couple of issues and would appreciate it if anyone could share their relevant knowledge or recent experience.

 

1. I'm going to be the financial sponsor for my wife. She's a stay-at-home mom and I'm not currently employed. The people at VFS said that I will need to show 10k baht for each day that we plan to be in Austria. That seems higher than I've read from other sources (45-60 Euros per day per person seems to be the norm) but so be it.  VFS also said that the funds I show bank statements for need to be in banks in Thailand. Is that true or is it just something they're saying?  Apart from the 400k to show for my marriage extension and another 100k or so for expenses, I choose to keep the bulk of my money outside of Thailand and transfer in as I need to. Being that I'm not Thai, it seems strange that the Consulate wouldn't accept bank statements from banks in my country.

 

2. The VFS people also insist that our hosts in Austria get a code (they call it Elektronische Verpflichtungserklärung (EVE) ) from their local police dept. and that we include it with my wife's application. The PD there says that to get this code, my friends have to be my wife's financial sponsors for the trip and show bank statements, etc. to demonstrate their ability to do so. We do not need or want our friends to have to be the financial sponsors. I'll be covering our expenses and they are merely going to let us stay with them at their home, which is plenty big enough for everybody (they can show their house rental contract and house registration ( called a Meldebestatigung).

Our friends could sponsor my wife just to make things easier, but they just recently relocated to Austria from abroad and haven't got all their banking stuff set up yet. Neither of them are working but they've got enough money that they don't need to. Problem is, the PD there says the money they show for sponsorship purposes has to be in an Austrian bank. The cops are also vague on how much money and how long it needs to have been on deposit in Austria.

 

We're considering just making a hotel reservation for purposes of the visa application and then cancelling it. We're a little worried though, that they might ask to see the hotel booking when we show up at the border and/or check with the hotel to see if we've actually checked in there, which we would not have.

 

Any thoughts as to how best to navigate this?

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Donutz]

The Austrian Foreign Ministry lists the requirements, which Austrian embassy will apply. VFS is an external and optional service provider, a simple paper pusher that collects and then forwards the application to Austrian officials.  Sometimes VFS can give wrong information so double checking at the primaire source (the embassy or MFA of the member state) is advised.

 

https://www.bmeia.gv.at/reise-aufenthalt/einreise-und-aufenthalt-in-oesterreich/einreise-und-visum/schengenvisum/

 

Google Translated:

Quote

 

"The existence of the following visa requirements must be positively assessed by the diplomatic mission to each visa applicant:

1. Plausibility and traceability of the travel purpose to Austria
2. Financing of living and travel expenses from own assets or income
3. Readiness of the visa holder to leave the Schengen area before the expiry date of the visa,
4. Presentation of a travel health insurance valid for the entire Schengen area and for the entire length of stay with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros.

If proof of own financing is not possible, the financing can be proven by submitting an electronic declaration of commitment by a person resident in Austria. Details of this commitment can be found on the website of the Ministry of the Interior .

 

 

 

The ministry of interior states pretty much the same:

https://www.bmeia.gv.at/reise-aufenthalt/einreise-und-aufenthalt-in-oesterreich/einreise-und-visum/schengenvisum/

Quote

• Proof of sufficient financial resources

How much, it doesn't say... Upon Googling I find that their simply is no exact amount..  Most Schengen countries require anywhere between 20-100 euro's per person per day. Depending on factors such as accommodation etc. So you probably would get a long way by having atleast 100 euro's per day per person in a bank account that the visa applicant clearly has access to. Best would be if it's in the name of the visa applicant so that there can be no doubt about accessing those funds.

 

Nowhere does it say that the bank must be based in Thailand.  And that's rather obvious, where the bank is based matters not, what matters is that the funds are those of the applicant and that that they will have access to it and enough funds. If the bank is based here or there isn't very relevant at all...

 

Perhaps you could simply e-mail the embassy itself instead. Where the actual visa processing staff works. But I don't know if they would reply in a timely manner or redirect you to VFS (who without written instructions -which should be on the website-  may just be guessing too...). 

 

So I checked the VFS site, the PDF checklists there don't say either what 'sufficient finances' are... 

 

That the Elektronische Verpflichtungserklärung (EVE)  also requires the accomodation provider to sponsor fincially would seem rather odd. It might be the most common but I'd find it hard to believe. Especially since the application checklist (see vFS site) specifically mentions the EVE and the 'sponsorship of unable to finance the trip yourself' as separate items. But the only way to find out would probably be your Austrian hosts doing the EVE and seeing how far they get...

 

As I'm Dutch and not Austrian I really don't have hands on experience myself.  And it seems there are no Austrians replying here.  Hopefully you get it all sorted out and it would be appreciated if you tell us how it went. So others after you with these questions aren't as lost as you are. :) Good luck!