Visa for Thai girlfriend to Belgium.

[Lemmykoopah]

Hello,

I would like to invite my Thai girlfriend of 7 months to come stay with me in Belgium for a short holiday of a month or two. However I'm a little overwhelmed on how to start all the necessary paperwork. Are there any Belgian people on the board?

Thank you in advance :-)

[theoldgit]

I assume you are a Belgian National and have read the instructions here http://www.vfsglobal.com/belgium/thailand/Visitfamily_documentsrequired.html

Your girlfriend will need to convince the visa authorities that that visit is genuine and affordable and that she is likely to return home at the conclusion of the visit. The Belgian authorities may take some convincing that a girl you have known for seven months can afford to spend a month or two away from her own employment.

Have a read and come back with any specific questions.

[Lemmykoopah]

Hi sir thanks for the reply. I read the site. It states that on the day of the interview one should be able to prove contract of medical insurance for the trip in Belgium. Is this correct? Medical insurance should already be bought before having confirmation whether visa got granted or not?

Regarding employment. I met my girl in Pattaya, she used to be a bargirl. However past 2 months she's not working there as im slipping over some money to her. I plan to be honest about meeting her in a bar in my letter to the embassy. What do you think sir?

[monty]

Hi,

To be really honest, your chances of getting the visa are pretty slim. At least you are honest about your/her situation.

She can only apply for two types of short term visa's.

The first is a tourist visa, where basically she will just undertake travel to Belgium as a tourist on her own.

To get this visa, she would need to have decent long term employment. This should be backed up with a letter from her employer stating how long leave/holiday she has, and preferably confirming that the job is still there when she comes back.

She would need a bankbook/bank statement showing not only sufficient funds for her trip, but also a history of regular funds going through the account for the last 6 months, pretty much like it would look like she has employment, monthly salary and then withdraw for her monthly expenses.

She would need hotel bookings for her stay, and a reasonably detailed travel itinerary.

This is the basic requirement, but at her interview (where she at least has to prove to able to communicate sufficiently good in English), they can easily ask for more supporting paperwork. Things like income tax slips, maybe a piece of land she owns in her own name, her family situation (maybe she has a child here).

Being honest about her (ex)-employment will guarantee to see her visa not approved. They know very well she can easily go to Belgium for 2 or 3 months, and go do the same job she does (or did) over here, illegally, without paying taxes and making a nice bundle of cash. Maybe she comes back when her visa is up, maybe she stays on taking the risk as the earnings are pretty high!

A lot of this stuff is done organized from within Europe, and they are trained at the embassy to limit the risk of such people slipping through and going to Belgium. They know very well that very few young Thai women are capable or willing to just go travel on their own to a European country. They would immediately suspect that this application is not genuine. Most people her age group would travel with an organized travel agency or with family.

Then the second option you have is a short term visa based on visiting friends/relatives. With this visa the financial capabilities/responsibilities are on you as a guarantor. More info here: https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/NL/Documents/informatiebrochure_garanten.pdf (in dutch) or https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/FR/Documents/Garants_Brochure.pdf (French).

With this visa the stumbling block will be on how genuine the embassy feels your relationship is. Length of relationship, how many times have you been here to see her, how many times have you called her while in Belgium, for all that stuff they will grill your girlfriend and they can ask supporting documents. Your airplane tickets or copy of passport to prove your trips here, pictures of you and her together (doing the touristy, boyfriend.girlfriend stuff), logs of your phone bills showing regular phone calls, transcrpits from skype and so on.

Obviously also your papework as a guarantor (pay slips etc).

Even this type of visa has to be backed up with paperwork from her employer (allowing her leave to travel), again, basically she will still have to prove there are enough ties to Thailand to make her come back here!.

Don't lie, the embassy officers are trained in finding discrepancies in the story, and when anything doesn't match up, it'll be a no no.

In my opinion, the best thing to do would be to try for the second option, be honest, maybe you get lucky and she sails through, and if they refuse the visa (based on doubts on relationship etc, NOT based on getting caught lying), you can always try again in 6 months or so, making sure during those months you do everything a boyfriend/girlfriend couple would do AND document it.

I would say second time round you'll have a fairly good chance as the embassy officials can then see how your relationship has progressed, and go from that...

Maybe a good idea would be to join one of the Belgian Thai organizations (there's actually quite a lot of Thai people living in Belgium), normally during summertime there are a fair few meetings where they showcase Thai food and culture, meet up with some Thai/Belgian couples, and get some more infor from them!

Example: http://www.thaiclub.be/

Good luck!

[monty]

Oh, and forgot...

Yes, she needs travel insurance before she applies.

Allowed Thai insurance companies are listed in the following .doc file (from the Belgian embassy): http://www.diplomatie.be/bangkok/media/bangkok/ins.doc or here (VFS website): http://www.vfsglobal.com/belgium/thailand/pdf/update_insurance141212.pdf

She will also need a confirmed ticket reservation! Not sure how it works with unpaid reservations though. Worst case, both Thai and China airlines have a 2000 Baht cancellation fee, if you don't use the ticket.

[Lemmykoopah]

Hey monty, thanks for the lengthy reply. Wow I wasn't aware it was also needed to have flight confirmation already. This scares me because you say there is only a slight chance of getting the visa and i know that cancelling airline tickets is very difficult and often they will only refund back the money when there is a medical reason and confirmation on paper from doc.

Are you 100% sure you need flight tickets already booked when you go for the interview? I was reading help topics on visa to UK and there it was specified to only book tickets after visa positive confirmation.

[7by7]

...........at her interview (where she at least has to prove to able to communicate sufficiently good in English...........

Why does she need to be able to prove she can communicate in English?

I have never heard of a language requirement for a Schengen visa before; is it a Belgian specific requirement?

If so, surely the requirement should be Dutch, French or German as they are the official languages of Belgium?

[7by7]

Are you 100% sure you need flight tickets already booked when you go for the interview? I was reading help topics on visa to UK and there it was specified to only book tickets after visa positive confirmation.

The UK is not part of the Schengen Area, and the requirements are different.

[monty]

These are the requirements (for a tourist visa) as per the VFS website:

1. National passport with validity of at least 3 months after the end of the planned journey (+ 1 copy of the identity page). 2. Completed and signed application form 3. 2 recent photographs (5x3cm) with white background. 4. Full detailed itinerary 5. Hotel reservation for the total duration of the stay in Belgium and in other countries in Schengen (+1 copy) 6. Letter of employer or school, stating the number of vacation days he/she can take or an inscription in the commerce register or as a partner in a company 7. Proof of sufficient personal financial means with bankbook or bank statement (+ 1 copy). 8. Travel insurance coverage minimum 30.000 Euro or equivalent amount in Baht (+ 1 copy), issued by recognized insurance company (list available here) 9. Confirmed ticket reservation (+ 1 copy).

So, as per point 9, yep.

Same requirement for the visit friends visa...

As said, cancelling China air and Thai air tickets is easy (at least 24 hours before flight) and carries not too much penalty. It does take a while to process the refund though, count on a few weeks.

[monty]

...........at her interview (where she at least has to prove to able to communicate sufficiently good in English...........

Why does she need to be able to prove she can communicate in English?

I have never heard of a language requirement for a Schengen visa before; is it a Belgian specific requirement?

If so, surely the requirement should be Dutch, French or German as they are the official languages of Belgium?

Yes, if applying for a visa to travel on her own as a tourist.

They do not expect you to be able to converse in Dutch or French, but if you plan on travelling to Belgium, they know if you only speak Thai, you're going to run into problems!

English is widely spoken/understood in Belgium (a bit less in the French part) and accepted as the international business/travel language.

It's basically not an official requirement, but they simply will suspect the application is not genuine if applying as a single travelling tourist, maybe first trip outside of Thailand, without any language skills at all.

If travelling as part of an organized tour group this obviously would not be a problem.

If applying as visiting relative/boyfriend, they would also question the relationship if she doesn't speak anything but Thai and he anything but European languages!

But I guess this would not be an issue if she manages some basic communication...

Believe me, they are finicky at the Belgian embassy! If everything is above board they'll get there eventually, but the consular officials tolerate very little doubt, especially with applicants suspected having been "in the business".

If you eventually are able to prove your relationship is genuine, they will let her go, might just take a bit more to convince them.

Lets just say that with an application which might be considered borderline, lack of language skills is not going to help!

[2yearvisitvisa]

OP Youlll be absolutely fine - don't listen to the scarmongers.

Go for it - be honest. So she was a hooker, so what! As long as she isn't hooking you, who cares.

Edited July 26, 2013 by theoldgit
Flame removed

[monty]

OP Youlll be absolutely fine - don't listen to the scarmongers. Most Thais are granted visit visas for most euro countries.

Go for it - be honest. So she was a hooker, so what! As long as she isn't hooking you, who cares.

Don't think anyone questioned his relationship!

He was totally honest, and so are we :-)

False hope doesnt't help anyone, a proper prepared application does, along with the knowledge not to despair if the first application doesn't go through.

Oh, and I'm Belgian as well, so know a bit how our embassy works!

Many Thais visit Europe, many on their own and many with their European partners, but for many it was a bit of a struggle to get the visa organized...

But obviously it must work if it's a genuine visa request, I was actually amazed at my last trip home (direct flight to Brussels on Thai) that maybe 60-70% of the passengers actually were Thai!

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Lemmykoopah]

Thanks for the replies.

At the moment I'm in Belgium and I don't think I can go to Thailand until 2014 because I don't have sufficient days off at work left so my gf would have to do the interview on her own and fix her needed documents herself and this worries me a little too.

Also, how would I get all my needed documents in Thailand? Do I have to mail them via Thai post? Or can I take copies of everything, email them to the gf and let her print them out herself at the internet cafe. (again, anxiety for me, shes not too good with computers)

[kiniyow]

Many Visa agencys to assist you for a Fee of course..Also Immigration Lawyers if you truly want her to visit....Most everything has a Price attached..Many shady Characters seem to get a Visa for a Price of course...

[Lemmykoopah]

Ok.

Guys, I was talking to a friend of mine and he said that if I met my girl in a bar that the chances are slim she'll get a visa. Is this true?

[7by7]

I can't speak for Belgium, but as far as the UK is concerned; ex bar girls do get visas, liars don't.

[monty]

Ok.

Guys, I was talking to a friend of mine and he said that if I met my girl in a bar that the chances are slim she'll get a visa. Is this true?

There are plenty of ex-bar girls getting visa's to Belgium, there are plenty living there!

But they will be very strict in checking your relationship, to make sure the "ex" part is correct.

7 months relation (you never mentioned how much time you actually spent together, can be important), is not that long in the grand scheme of things, most people I know, more or less got caught out not having proper documentation on the relationship.

Most people don't really start making proper touristy pictures with both of yourselves on (most will be either with you or her as one of you is shooting the pics, a lot will be in bars), save Skype logs, and a lot of other things, unless the plan was from day one to apply for a visa! Most people leave some cash for the GF's (hard to prove) instead of transferring some funds every month etc...

One other thing they look at to confirm she's not "on the job" any more. Either she now has a verifiable halfway decent paying normal job, or you support her financially, preferably both. They do realize that not many girls would be capable to return to a normal paying job, after having held the "high" income job from a bar girl. Pretty much the same the world over I guess.

So many get refused the first time, if the relationship is serious it will survive such a small set back and they will try again a second time few months later with some more documentation, and that application very often sails through without hassle.

As 7by7 said, do not lie, even an innocent lie will see your visa not approved.

A friend of mine (Australian, NOT Belgian) had the application fall through because his GF, when asked how long she knew her boyfriend, replied "about a year" without much thinking as Thai people tend to do. Time is not so important here.

The immigration stamps in his passport (copies supplied with application) showed he only came to Thailand first time 7 months ago. The issue was not 7 months or 1 year relationship, but the fact that she did not supply correct info, thus they reasoned the rest of the application was not trustworthy either (they actually detailed the reason in the refusal letter!).

She did get her visa second time round, but the consular guy did ask why she "lied" the first time, she explained she wasn't lying, just blurted out a very approximate answer, being stressed out and nervous at the interview. Explanation accepted and she had the visa 3 days later...

Do not be discouraged if the visa is not approved the first time round, it is a tactic used by the Belgian embassy (as confirmed to me many years ago by a Belgian consular officer), to make sure the relationship is genuine. If the relationship is shaky, it'll often fall apart after the refusal and no second application will be made (and they likely stopped the relationship fall apart while in Belgium!).

Persisting with a second application is pretty much proof the relation can stand temporary drawbacks.

It will be a test of your relationship and that is exactly what they want it to be.

[monty]

Another thing to consider, seeing that you state she is not too good with computers.

You cannot just go to the Belgian embassy for a visa application.

First you have to pay VFS. (pay the fees to their Bank of Ayudhya account, using a special form to be found on the VFS website, where you fill out additional details such as passport nr.)

Then 1 day later you have to go online on the VFS website.

Make appointment online, after which they will send her an e-mail

Print said e-mail, go to embassy and show up there 15 minutes before your appointment time.

Bring along all documents needed.

[FRM-BKK]

Axa Insurance Thailand does a policy that covers the requirements for Schengen visas.

Their office is on Rama 4 Road, in the Bon Kai area, just beyond Lumpini Park, bordering Klong Toei, on the south side of Rama 4.

Axa Insurance Public Company Ltd.,

23rd floor Lumpini Tower

1168/67 Rama IV Road

Thungmahamek, Sathorn, Bangkok.

+66 - 2679 7600

www.axa.co.th

I just took out the insurance for my Thai (male) friend, prior to his application for the Netherlands.

The Axa policy clearly states that if the visa is refused, they will refund the policy premium.

My Thai friend's policy is for 21 days, and cost 1,300 Thai baht.

His application went without a hitch and he received his visa within 3 days.

To the OP. Being honest in the application is the best and most important aspect.

My Thai friend has no money, I am funding his trip, but Included in the application we put a couple of letters, one from him about how he got to know me and why he is going to the Netherlands, and a letter from me explaining his and my situation and yes, we are gay, which I openly put in my letter.

I live in Bangkok permanently, so my sister in the Netherlands is sponsoring him.

At the (Dutch) embassy here in Bangkok, not one questions was asked, the lady was friendly, polite and very courteous.

In my opinion, it was all in the detail, honesty and completeness of the application; nothing was left blank or unanswered !!

Go for it and good luck !!

Frans.

[Lemmykoopah]

Hey Frans thx for your reply. Did the Dutch embassy also require proof of flight booking BEFORE visa approval?

[monty]

Frans had some very strong advantages.

It looks like he lives here in Thailand, so firstly the relation can be considered much stronger/regular, and secondly, living here means a much stronger incentive for the visa applicant to return to Thailand.

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Lemmykoopah]

That's true.

[FRM-BKK]

Hey Frans thx for your reply. Did the Dutch embassy also require proof of flight booking BEFORE visa approval?

Yes, the Embassy required a booking or reservation; not a paid ticket.