Who needs this service and why
You need this service if you are travelling to Europe from Thailand and you hold a passport that requires a visa for the Schengen area. That covers most Thai nationals, and it covers many foreigners living in Thailand on a DTV, education, retirement, marriage or business visa who want to travel to Europe from here rather than from their home country.
A Schengen application is mostly a documentary exercise. The consulate wants to see that your trip is planned, that it is funded, and that your papers agree with each other. What creates avoidable trouble is administrative: applying to the wrong embassy, booking an appointment before the documents are ready, submitting a bank statement nobody reviewed, or handing over a travel plan that does not match the flight booking.
Those are the things we take off your hands. We go through your documents thoroughly, confirm which requirements you already satisfy, tell you what else is worth obtaining, work out which embassy your application legally belongs to, book the appointment, and prepare you for the counter.
What a Schengen visa actually gives you
A Schengen visa lets you move freely between the member states of the Schengen area without passing immigration between them. Once you land in one member country you can travel onward by train, road or air as if you were moving inside a single country. There are 29 members, covering almost all of the European Union plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The visa most travellers from Thailand need is the short stay visa, also called Type C. It allows a maximum of 90 days of stay within any 180 day period. It suits tourism, business trips, visiting family or friends, conferences, and short medical treatment.
There are two other categories that come up less often:
- Long stay visa (Type D). For stays longer than 90 days, such as study, work or long term residence. This is a national visa issued by one country under its own rules, not a general Schengen visa.
- Airport transit visa (Type A). For changing planes inside a Schengen airport when you are not entering the area. You stay in the transit zone and cannot leave the airport.
This page is about the short stay visa. If you need Type D or Type A, tell us and we will handle it separately.
Every country runs its own application
This is the part that confuses people most. There is no single Schengen office. Each member state accepts applications through its own embassy in Bangkok, its own online portal, and its own appointment system, and most of them outsource the counter work to a visa centre. Several Bangkok missions, including Germany and Switzerland, take applications through VFS Global. Others run their own portals and centres.
The core rules are identical across all of them. The forms, the appointment systems, the document checklists and the waiting times are not. So the first thing we do on any Schengen case is confirm the exact route for the country you are actually applying to, rather than working from a generic checklist.
Which country you apply to is not a matter of preference. The rule is:
- Apply to the country where you will spend the most nights.
- If your nights are split evenly between two or more countries, apply to the country you will enter first.
We look at your itinerary, work out which mission is legally correct for your trip, and then build your file to that specific embassy's checklist.
Who this is for
- Thai nationals travelling to Europe for a holiday, a business trip, a conference, or to visit family and friends.
- Foreigners resident in Thailand who want to apply from Bangkok because they live here, work here, and their documents are here.
- Families travelling together, including children under 18, where the paperwork for minors has its own requirements.
- First time travellers with a new passport, where we take extra care over how the file is put together.
If your passport has no stamps yet, a well documented first trip of one to two weeks is a comfortable way to start, and it builds the travel history that makes later applications simpler. We will talk through what suits your plans.
Requirements
Base documents for every applicant
- Passport. Valid for at least 3 months beyond your intended return date, with at least 2 blank pages.
- Photograph to the current biometric specification.
- Travel insurance covering medical expenses and emergency repatriation, with a minimum of EUR 30,000 of cover, valid across the whole Schengen area for your full trip.
- Proof of funds. Recent bank statements showing you can pay for the whole trip.
- Proof of accommodation. Hotel bookings for every night, or an invitation letter from the friend or family member you are staying with.
- Proof of travel. Flight reservation and a day by day travel plan that matches your bookings.
Additional documents by occupation
- Company employees. Employment certificate stating your position, and a letter approving your leave for the exact dates of the trip.
- Students. Enrolment certificate from your school or university, together with the academic calendar showing the trip falls in a break.
- Business owners. Company registration documents and evidence that the business is trading.
- Retired applicants. Proof of income after retirement, such as pension slips or pension statements.
- Visiting family. An invitation letter from your relative in Europe, with a copy of their ID card, residence permit or visa.
Additional documents for children under 18
- Original birth certificate with a copy.
- Parental consent letter, if the child travels alone or with only one parent or guardian.
- Copies of both parents' ID cards or passports.
These are the raw requirements. The work is turning them into a file that reads clearly to an officer who has a short time to review it.
How it works
First, we work out your route and review your documents. You tell us where you are going, for how long, who is paying, and what you do for a living, and you send us what you have. We calculate which member state your application legally belongs to, confirm that mission's current portal, visa centre and appointment waiting time, and work backwards from your flight date so the timing is comfortable. We go through your documents against that embassy's checklist and confirm what you already satisfy.
Second, we build the file. We complete the application form, prepare the cover letter, build the day by day itinerary so it matches your bookings exactly, and review your bank statements before they go anywhere near the embassy. If your statement shows a large recent deposit, we tell you what documentation will evidence its source. If your leave letter does not cover your return date, we catch it. We arrange the EUR 30,000 insurance and confirm your accommodation covers every night. Then we book your appointment and give you a printed, ordered pack.
Third, we get you through the counter. We brief you on what the officer will ask, in plain language: purpose of trip, itinerary, length of stay, who pays. You answer honestly, clearly and confidently, because you have already been through the questions with us. If the embassy comes back for more documents, we prepare the response. When your passport is returned, we check the visa sticker for the entry dates, the number of entries and the allowed days, so anything that needs correcting is found in Bangkok and not at the airport in Europe.
The 90/180 rule
Your short stay visa allows a maximum of 90 days in the Schengen area within any rolling 180 day period. The 180 days is a moving window, not a calendar half year, which is why people miscount it.
On any given day, look back 180 days. Add up every day you were physically inside the Schengen area in that window. That total must not exceed 90. Days spent in Europe outside the Schengen area, such as the United Kingdom or Ireland, do not count towards it.
Overstaying, even by a few days, can affect entry on your next trip. We calculate your available days before you book anything and mark your last legal day clearly.
What the consulate looks at closely
Knowing where attention falls lets you prepare for it properly. These are the areas we spend the most time on:
- Consistency across documents. The dates on your flight booking, hotel booking, leave letter and itinerary all need to agree. We check them against each other before submission.
- Funds matched to the trip. A fortnight in Switzerland costs very differently from a week in Portugal. We make sure the evidence fits the itinerary you are actually submitting.
- Accommodation for every night. Even two or three unbooked nights read as a gap in the plan, so we close them.
- A purpose that is easy to state. A clear itinerary that can be summarised in a sentence does more than a complicated one.
If you were refused before
A refusal is not the end, and many of our clients are approved on a later attempt. What makes the difference is changing the file rather than resubmitting it.
We need to see your refusal letter, because the refusal codes tell us precisely which requirement was not established. Then we build the new application around evidencing that specific point, and strengthen the financial and accommodation evidence alongside it. In some cases an appeal to the embassy under its own procedure is the better route than a fresh application, and we will explain which one fits your case.
FAQ
1. Which country should I apply to?
The country where you will spend the most nights. If the nights are split evenly, the country you enter first. Send us your itinerary and we will confirm which embassy your application belongs to.
2. How far in advance should I start?
Book your appointment one to two months ahead, and start preparing before that. In high season the appointment queues at Bangkok visa centres get long, and documents such as bank certificates and employment letters take a few days to obtain. Six to eight weeks before your flight is comfortable.
3. How much money should I have in my account?
There is no single published figure, because it depends on your destination, your trip length and whether someone else is paying. What matters as much as the number is that the balance is consistent and that any large recent deposit can be evidenced. We review your statement and tell you what else would round out the picture.
4. Do I have to buy the flight ticket before applying?
No. A confirmed reservation is what the embassy wants at application stage. Wait for the visa before buying anything non refundable. We arrange a proper reservation that satisfies the requirement.
5. Which travel insurance is acceptable?
It must cover medical expenses and emergency repatriation to at least EUR 30,000, be valid in every Schengen country, and cover your entire stay including the day you arrive and the day you leave. We arrange a policy that meets the specification.
6. I am a foreigner living in Thailand. Can I apply from Bangkok?
Yes, if you hold legal long stay status here. The embassy will want to see that status alongside your other documents, because it explains why you are applying in Thailand. Your Thai visa, work or study evidence and local address all become part of the file, and we build it that way from the start.
7. Can I get a multiple entry visa?
It is possible, and more likely if you have a record of previous Schengen visas used correctly. First time applicants are usually issued a single entry visa matched to the trip they applied for. We will talk through what suits your travel history.
8. What if I want to visit several countries on one trip?
That is completely normal and allowed. One visa covers the whole area. You still apply to one specific embassy, chosen by the rule above, and your itinerary shows the full route. Multi country trips need the accommodation and transport evidence to line up cleanly, and we handle that.
9. My passport has no stamps at all. What should I know?
Nothing about a new passport prevents you applying. It simply means the file does more of the work, since there is no travel history to lean on. We put extra care into the funds, the accommodation and the employment evidence, and a well planned first trip of one to two weeks is a comfortable way to begin.
10. Do I need to attend in person?
Yes. You must appear at the visa centre to give fingerprints and a photograph, unless your biometrics were taken for a previous Schengen visa within the last 59 months.
11. Is the visa fee refundable if I am refused?
No. The embassy fee is non refundable whatever the outcome, which is why we make sure the file is complete before it goes in.
12. What exactly am I paying you for?
A thorough review of your documents against the correct embassy's checklist, a clear list of anything else worth obtaining, the right mission identified, insurance arranged, the appointment booked, the full file prepared, and you briefed for the counter. The decision belongs to the consular officer. Everything within your control, we handle.
Send us your travel plan and your documents and we will go through everything properly: which embassy your application belongs to, what you already have, and what is worth gathering before we lodge it.
