Switzerland Schengen visa for the Thai GF

[gearbox]

 

Howdy,

 

Just trying to sort out a few details before the GF applies for the visa and I found not much by searches.

 

The Thai GF is going to apply for Schengen visa to visit her sister and niece. She's been there before around 2 years ago and used an agent in Bangkok to get the visa. This time I convinced her to apply directly as the process doesn't seem that complicated to me.

Her sister and her husband will sponsor her, although she's got plenty of funds herself to cover the expenses. She'll stay around 2 weeks and I'm not travelling with her.

 

I have a few questions regarding the docos required and other things:

 

* We are thinking to schedule an interview on 17th Feb, and she is flying out on 12th Mar. That's around 3 and a half weeks, is this enough time to submit an application, getting visa approval and have the passport delivered back to Samui? Should we move the interview date earlier? We are flying to Bangkok on these dates and is convenient to drop the paperwork. The VFS site says the latest to apply is "15 working days in advance". 

 

* I'm thinking to tell her to apply for 5 years multiple entry visa, as she has a previous clean record and plenty of funds to show in bank accounts. Doing this every time looks like a major hassle. However her passport expires after 2.5 years. Is the 5 year visa transferable to a newly issued passport after the old one expires?

 

* In the document requirements paper it states about the travel insurance " The stamp and the signature of the insurance company are mandatory" .  What this means? I always buy TI online, can't remember the docos emailed to me to have any stamps and signatures. Does it mean she can't get TI online, but needs to go to a branch?

 

 

 

 

[FritsSikkink]

I don't think she will get a 5 year visa:

 

5 year multiple-entry Schengen visa

5-year MEV is granted to people that travel a lot to the Schengen Zone, especially for business. This visa permits you to enter 26 countries in Europe as many times as you wish, within five years, as soon as you do not violate the 90/180 days rule.

You will need to show very strong proof that you travel frequently to any of these countries and why you travel. In addition, you will need to show evidence why a visa with a validity of 5 years is necessary for you.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-visa-types/

Even a 1 year might be a problem:

1 year multiple-entry Schengen visa

You can obtain this visa if you have been traveling to the Schengen Area more often, and you have also been in possession of at least one Schengen double-entry visa. When you apply for this visa, you will need to show proof that you are a regular traveler, as well as why you need this visa in the future.

The 1-year MEV visa gives you the right to enter in the Schengen Zone as many times as you want, as long as you do not remain more than 90 days within this period.

3 year multiple-entry Schengen visa

The 3-year MEV gives the right to its holder to enter the Schengen Area as many times as they wish within a period of three years. However, even in this case the visa holder is limited to remaining in the EU no longer than 90 days within a 180-day period.

When you apply for a 3-year MEV you will have to present evidence that you are a frequent traveler to at least one of the countries of the Schengen. You will also have to explain and prove why you need a visa with a validity of three years.

 

[theoldgit]

I don't know what the Swiss are looking for, but what I can tell you we purchased travel insurance online from AIG for travel to Schengen for my wife and I, we don't need visas but I can tell you that the Insurance Certificate is signed in colour, and whilst it isn't stamped as such the document is electonically watermarked.

 

I agree with the previous poster about the length of the visa. 

[paddyfield7]

I'm Swiss, and my wife is Thai. Her first Schengen-Visa, before we got married, just covered the length of our stay in Europe according to our flight tickets. When we got married, she easily got a MEV valid for 2 years, with the restriction that she may not stay in Europa longer than 90 days within 6 months. The rules recently changed, and my wife has now a MEV valid for 4 years, which I believe is the maximum you can get (if you are married!), and the 90/180 days rule still applies. No way the visa can last longer than the passport's validity, in fact the visa is only granted until 90 days prior the passport's expiry. 

[gearbox]

19 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

I don't think she will get a 5 year visa:

 

 

 

Thanks a lot! She definitely won't be travelling to Schengen countries a lot,  so back to normal visa.

[gearbox]

12 minutes ago, paddyfield7 said:

I'm Swiss, and my wife is Thai. Her first Schengen-Visa, before we got married, just covered the length of our stay in Europe according to our flight tickets. When we got married, she easily got a MEV valid for 2 years, with the restriction that she may not stay in Europa longer than 90 days within 6 months. The rules recently changed, and my wife has now a MEV valid for 4 years, which I believe is the maximum you can get (if you are married!), and the 90/180 days rule still applies. No way the visa can last longer than the passport's validity, in fact the visa is only granted until 90 days prior the passport's expiry. 

Thanks for the reply, I'm not a Swiss national and we are not married. MEV was consideration only to save time for possible visa applications. 

 

BTW there are countries (can't remember now) which will put visa longer than the passport expiry date, but you need to carry the old passport with the new one.

[jimn]

1 hour ago, gearbox said:

Thanks for the reply, I'm not a Swiss national and we are not married. MEV was consideration only to save time for possible visa applications. 

 

BTW there are countries (can't remember now) which will put visa longer than the passport expiry date, but you need to carry the old passport with the new one.

I know not Schengen, but I can say from experience that UK will issue visa's longer than the expiry date. My wife's 5 year family visit visa expires May 2021 but her passport expires this month January 2020. We plan on applying for a 10 year family visit visa when her 5 year visa expires.

[Donutz]

You can always ask for a MEV with longer validity,  but if you get it depends on if you can show the need for one.

 

Other wise these standard rules apply from 2-2-2020 and onwards:

 

---

2.   Provided that the applicant fulfils the entry conditions set out in point (a) and points (c) to (e) of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, multiple-entry visas with a long validity shall be issued for the following validity periods, unless the validity of the visa would exceed that of the travel document:

 

 

(a)	for a validity period of one year, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used three visas within the previous two years;

(b)	for a validity period of two years, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used a previous multiple-entry visa valid for one year within the previous two years;

(c)	for a validity period of five years, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used a previous multiple-entry visa valid for two years within the previous three years.

 

---

Source: new Schengen rules 

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32019R1155&from=en

[paddyfield7]

7 hours ago, gearbox said:

Thanks for the reply, I'm not a Swiss national and we are not married. MEV was consideration only to save time for possible visa applications. 

 

BTW there are countries (can't remember now) which will put visa longer than the passport expiry date, but you need to carry the old passport with the new one.

o.k., the cases are not really comparable then. But it was hard to get a visa for my later wife before we were married, and impossible to even think about an MEV at that time (2014).

[varun]

I think perhaps you don't understand the way Schengen visas work.

 

The applicant doesn't get to choose whether to apply for a 1-year or 5-year visa.

The maximum length of stay that can be applied for under a Type-C (Short-Stay) visa is 90-days.

The consulate decides the validity period, based on the information provided gathered from the application/applicant.

 

He/she may get 90 days validity/1-year validity or 5 years validity.

If the requested length of stay is less than 90 days, the consulate may also the visa with a validity period = length of stay. 

 

This whole thing sounds a bit convoluted to me - a gf, sister of said gf, a niece and a husband.

Who is the sponsor?

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by varun

[gearbox]

39 minutes ago, varun said:

I think perhaps you don't understand the way Schengen visas work.

 

The applicant doesn't get to choose whether to apply for a 1-year or 5-year visa.

The maximum length of stay that can be applied for under a Type-C (Short-Stay) visa is 90-days.

The consulate decides the validity period, based on the information provided gathered from the application/applicant.

 

He/she may get 90 days validity/1-year validity or 5 years validity.

If the requested length of stay is less than 90 days, the consulate may also the visa with a validity period = length of stay. 

 

This whole thing sounds a bit convoluted to me - a gf, sister of said gf, a niece and a husband.

Who is the sponsor?

 

 

 

The sister and her husband are the sponsors, they live in Switzerland and she got a visa around 2 years ago to visit them, they are sponsoring her again. I'm fairly confident she wouldn't have any issues to get a normal tourist visa, and she is going there for less than 2 weeks, can't leave her business unattended for longer.

 

I don't understand the technicalities of the Schengen visas, most of the places I travel I just need to show my passports when I enter, or get a visa fairly easily. Just got a 5 years multiple entry visa for India applying online in less than 24 hours.  I thought maybe one can just choose the type of visa they wish to get in a form but I was wrong.

[gearbox]

On 1/7/2020 at 3:20 PM, theoldgit said:

I don't know what the Swiss are looking for, but what I can tell you we purchased travel insurance online from AIG for travel to Schengen for my wife and I, we don't need visas but I can tell you that the Insurance Certificate is signed in colour, and whilst it isn't stamped as such the document is electonically watermarked.

 

I agree with the previous poster about the length of the visa. 

Thanks for the info, just to be sure I emailed the VFS help desk for clarification, their reply was that no stamp or signatures are required if the travel insurance is purchased online.