Applying For A Schengen Visa

[bretth7377]

Hi everyone, we just went through the process of applying for a schengen visa for my wife and I to go on a vacation to Europe. It was a very easy process that only took 3 days to get the visa but it took me a week to find all the information about the documents to provide. The embassy website only describes the bare minimum set of documents and after reading through peoples experiences on the net I was able to compile a list of the documents we eventually provided. So I thought it would be helpful to write a post.

Our trip includes visiting several countries. Because we will be spending the most time in Italy we had to apply through the company VFS which Italy uses to handle their short term visa applications. The rule is to apply to the embassy where you will be spending the most amount of days, if the days are divided equally between countries then you apply to the first port of entry. We will be taking a Mediterranean cruise which also goes to Istanbul so we needed to apply for a Multiple Entry visa.

Here's what we eventually ended up providing to the embassy. I noticed many people applying for their visa didn't have as many documents as we had and they probably all aren't necessary but I'd rather provide too much than too little. Please note, when we picked up her visa they did not return any documents so it's important to only give them copies of the documents.

* Copy of wife's passport signature/photo page

* Copy of my passport signature/photo page

* Health insurance policy taken out for 1 month from Muang Thai Insurance (make sure you tell them it's for a schengen visa)

* Marriage Certificate (Thai & English translation)

* Birth Certificate (Thai & English translation)

* Bank Statements for the last 4 months (we provided our joint bank account and her own bank account statements)

* Letter of Guarantee (this basically says I will cover all expenses for her, it also states what I do for a job and my salary)

* 3 Months of my paychecks (for the letter of guarantee)

* Letter from my employer stating I currently work at the company

* Airline reservations (you don't need to purchase a ticket, just contact a local travel agency to reserver tickets... cheaptickets or mox travel will do it)

* Hotel reservations (again, you don't need to purchase the hotel, you can use booking.com or the holiday inn website to make your reservation)

* Cruise reservation (you will need to pay the deposit but its usually fully refundable if the cruise is more than 70 days away. This also depends on the cruise company. The tricky part about this is you can only apply for the schengen visa if you are travelling less than 90 days from the date you apply so you only have a 20 day window to apply for the visa without loosing your cruise deposit)

* I typed up our entire itinerary on a piece of paper including every day where we would be staying (city & hotel name)

* I provided a cover letter summarizing what the purpose of the trip is going to be and what type of visa we were requesting

* House Registration (Thai & English translation)

I hope this post helps some people. The thing to keep in mind is to provide any useful information to the examiner in an organized fashion, basically anything that will make their job easier. I wanted to type out the application but the copy of the application on the VFS website was in Microsoft Excel. No idea why they used a spreadsheet program to create the application, but I was able to download a PDF version from the Italian Embassy website.

[7by7]

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

But may I ask; are you an EEA national?

Many of the questions on the application form do not apply to spouses, partners, children etc. of EEA nationals. They also don't need so much evidence. So applicants, or their partners, should check the form and guidance carefully to ensure they don't provide too much or, worse, too little.

[bretth7377]

No, I'm an American citizen. 7by7, you're probably right, the documents I provided are probably more than whats needed but I'd rather have too much than too little. Also, this might be worth mentioning to people applying for a UK tourist visa. I provided a similar set of documents last year for my wife and I to go to the UK for a holiday, same results, we received the visa in 3 days.

[7by7]

I, too, subscribe to the view that it's better to provide too much than too little. But you have to temper this with not wanting to provide too much that is not vital so that something which is vital gets missed!

This can be somewhat overcome by providing an index of supporting documents; which I always do.

BTW, the speed of the UK visa application had nothing to do with the amount of supporting documents supplied. UK visa applications are dealt with on a first come, first served basis; apply at a quiet time and you will get a quick result.