Schengen Visa for Thai Girlfriend to Belgium

[kall3]

Hi all,

I would like some advice on how my Thai girlfriend can some and visit me for a 2 week holiday in Belgium. We met in Thailand and have known each other for 5 months roughly. She will be financing her own trip, but accommodation is covered by me as we will be staying at a house owned by my parents.

Some basic info about her:

-currently employed in Bangkok, income around 25,000 baht /month

-uni education + steady office jobs for the past 4 years

I have read the information here: http://www.vfsglobal.com/belgium/thailand/short_stay.html but I am not sure whether she should be applying for a tourist visa or a "Visits to family and friends"-visa instead.

1 .My first question is about the tourist visa:

"7. Proof of sufficient personal financial means with bankbook or bank statement (+ 1 copy)."

How much money would she need to have on her account in reality? As her accomodation and general living expenses are mostly covered by me, she doesn't need much at all but how much will the Embassy want to see in her account?

2. Is the tourist visa generally more difficult to obtain than the visiting family and friends visa?

3. Can the hotel reservation be replaced by some proof that I will offer the accommodation?

"5. Hotel reservation for the total duration of the stay in Belgium and in other countries in Schengen (+1 copy)"

So the other option would be to apply for the "Visits to family and friends"-visa. The only problem with this is the part:

"Proof of recent income of the guarantor (3 last salary slip, child benefits or last income tax assessment paper from the tax department in Belgium)"

The problem is that although I'm a permanent resident of Belgium, I am a student and studying abroad currently and living on a student grant of about 500€/month. I have never received any income to my Belgian account..

Now what I could do, is to have my father in Belgium as the guarantor instead.. but can this work? Because I can easily proof our relationship with pictures, chat / Skype logs and previous trip reservations in Thailand, but my father has never met her.

Is it possible to have a family member as a guarantor for her instead of myself?

Many thanks in advance!

[bubsj1]

I do not know all the specifics about Belgium however the schengen visa rules are in general the same for all countries.

If I were you I would let your father be her guaranter during her stay in the Schengen area! She probably wont get a visa without a guaranter.

You might need a form from your municipality to invite her to stay at your home. (I do not know this for sure)

Send 2 letters, the first one from you explaining how you met, how long etc. In this letter you can say as well why you are not able to be her guaranter. The 2nd from your father where he states that all expenses during her stay will be covered by him.

As she will be visiting friends/family ask for that visa. There is no difference but this is who she is visiting.

She will need a letter from her employer stating how long she is working there and also that she is able to travel for a holiday (say specific dates, when her holiday starts and when her company expects her to return to her job).

The more proof you can provide to convince them that she will be returning to Thailand after her holiday the better;)

It is not easy to get visa for the schengen area but certainly not impossible!

Edited November 23, 2014 by bubsj1

[7by7]

You may find this Schengen Visa FAQ helpful.

[Donutz]

1. I think the amount per day is 38 euro's for Belgium. The exact amount should be on one of the Belgian government (embassy, immigration, other?) webpages. The Belgian "Kruispunt" may be of help aswell?

2. It shouldn't matter in theory, in practise some embassies seem to be more though on "visiting friends/family" due to fear of (illegal) settlement. The Belgians deny about 12% of the visas in BKK, the avarage refusal rate is around 2-2,5%.

3. I would suspect so. I don't know if the Belgians differentiate between financial support and providing accomodation though. Other embassies do: an applicant could finance the trip with their own funds but "visit friends" and stay at a private accomodation. This too should be on the governments website(s). The optional service of VFS is quite useless anyway except for the most basic of questions... I'd prefer to not deal with them at all (you don't have to).

A Belgian reader may have hands on experience but I'm sure official sources can provide more exact answers via webpages, brochures and forms.