visa process

[paperboy]

hi everyone

hope somebody can help me.
i was hopeing to bring a boy to spain for a 2 week holiday in October
whats the process to get a visa for him, he is at school, 19 years old
from chiang mai
do i buy the tickets this side or semd him the money to buy them that side.
Ive never done this before, and either has he
any advise would be good thankyou

[cdnmatt]

I would most definitely send him the money, and let him handle things from his end. Let him price out the flights too, so he gets to choose the dates / times that work best for him.

[Neal]

Paperboy, does he have a visa yet?

I think what da boss is hinting at is that you know that you don't need to go ahead and buy flight etc just now, you ( or he) can go ahead and apply for the visa ( actually I think he has to do that from memory) and IF you / he is successful in his application ( and that's a BIG BIG if by the way) then you can start thinking about flight tickets - and it's not for me to say perhaps but I know if it was me I'd be buying those online myself and emilling over the confirmation details rather than western unioning over several hundred pounds perhaps "just in case" something lets be kind and say "unexpected" happens either to the money or between now and your / his departure time.

But the best of luck with it all, perhaps you'll let us know if he was successful in his application just for our own future info too ?

[Neal]

Exactly. First the passport application and mind you to get someone here that you know to send the money to and not the kid. I had a customer who asked me how to do this. The customer sent the money to the bar and we brought the kid down twice to a company to get the work done. The falang got the evvy jeevies and backed out but as we had the money, he did not lose it to the boy.
Then after you get the passport and the visa (which I would doubt you will get but up2u) then you ask the boy about the dates and times and you get the ticket, not the boy. He has no experience on how to get discounted tickets and deals etc.
NOW, if you want my opinion? Leave the money in your pocket and come visit. Yes, you will get a passport, I lay 90% odds you don't get the visa especially if it is a new passport with no other stamps AND even if you do, he will miss the flight and it is all wasted anyway or he spends the money that was for the airline ticket.
Have I painted a bleak but honest enough picture for you? LOL!

[fountainhall]

Not very helpful, i grant you, but if I were you, I'd come here instead and take the boy on holiday to a neighbouring country. As others have pointed out, you first have to get the boy a visa - and for Spain and other countries in the Schengen Agreement, getting a 19-year old a visa when he has no job here (and therefore cannot provide a written guarantee from an employer that he will actually return to that job) and probably very little in a bank account is virtually an impossibility.

Whilst i have never had to get a visa for any Thai to go to Europe, I have tried to get a 24-year old with a BA degree and a decent job a visa for Japan. For that, I had to purchase the air ticket in advance because the visa authorities needed confirmation that he had a ticket back to Thailand. I had to arrange for his bank balance to be in 6-figures. Even with all that, he was denied the visa.

I simply cannot believe the Spanish Consulate will even consider the possibility of a visa for a schoolboy unless they see physical proof of the air ticket when the application is made. And as DaBoss has pointed out, with a totally new passport showing he has never before travelled out of Thailand, the Spanish visa office will immediately assume his objective to go to Spain to work illegally. You, as a Spanish national (I assume), will have to provide a ton of written evidence to show that will not be the case - and even then, I really fear it will be a waste of time. Sorry!

Fountainhall has got this one exactly right - Paperboy is in a quandary because people are advising him not to buy air tickets before the boy has his Visa for Spain but the fact of the matter is that in Europe WITHOUT the RETURN air ticket the visa application will be unsuccessful and I can guarantee that 100%.
So what you have to do is purchase a FULL FARE UNRESTRICTED ticket that can be refunded if the visa application is unsuccessful.

The fact that he is a schoolboy and does not have a job to return to, can be managed as can the finances by having Paperboy "sponsor" him but this again is very very difficult. Apart from anything else they are going to want to know how you know the boy, for how long, and what makes you think you can guarantee he will not just go AWOL in Spain. Also you will need to satisy the authorities that you can support him financially.

The fact that he has never before travelled outside Thailand and (more importantly) RETURNED will also go against him.

Paperboy I would estimate that even if you get all of the above in place, the chance of the boy getting his Visa is no more than 5-10%.

I have gone through so much shit trying to get my boy here (2 years of banging my head off a brick wall and fuck knows what total expense) - and he's not even Thai - that I would advise you to think very carefully if it's all worth it.

Sorry to piss on your parade, but I'm being honest.


:occasion9:

[Nabaat]

Last year we did this:

We applied for a Shengen at the Germany Embassy:

Required: Ticket and Hotel booking for Germany (used Agoda for hotel and then cancelled)
Money for trip in BF's name/bank.
Health Insurance (no problem as I run a Health group, so I just added him,,,cost 12,0000 for the year)
Copy of my Passport/Income etc and that I would be responsible for all cost inccured.

Then fly to Germany, first point of entry, get the next flight to Spain. A Schengen from the Spanish Embassy is a pain...book an appointment etc....go check their website out and you will see. The hotel booking was important as Grmany is the first point of call, make the booking for the whole trip, i.e. 21 days.

German Embassy, 5 mins from I Hotel near the old Immigration Office...walk in, check forms, wait 30 mins, submit, collect visa 2 days later :thumbright:

...and as for a UK one, just as easy as long as the guy can show some reason to return i.e. job, land, house, car etc

We are off for another UK Visa next week...will update if any problems/changes

...and as for a UK one, just as easy as long as the guy can show some reason to return i.e. job, land, house, car etc..


So which of those criteria does your BF fulfil - if you're going to give us your advice and the benefit of your experience, at least tell us the whole story please!

:dontknow: :dontknow:

[sjaak327]

Fountainhall has got this one exactly right - Paperboy is in a quandary because people are advising him not to buy air tickets before the boy has his Visa for Spain but the fact of the matter is that in Europe WITHOUT the RETURN air ticket the visa application will be unsuccessful and I can guarantee that 100%.
So what you have to do is purchase a FULL FARE UNRESTRICTED ticket that can be refunded if the visa application is unsuccessful.

The fact that he is a schoolboy and does not have a job to return to, can be managed as can the finances by having Paperboy "sponsor" him but this again is very very difficult. Apart from anything else they are going to want to know how you know the boy, for how long, and what makes you think you can guarantee he will not just go AWOL in Spain. Also you will need to satisy the authorities that you can support him financially.

The fact that he has never before travelled outside Thailand and (more importantly) RETURNED will also go against him.

Paperboy I would estimate that even if you get all of the above in place, the chance of the boy getting his Visa is no more than 5-10%.

I have gone through so much shit trying to get my boy here (2 years of banging my head off a brick wall and fuck knows what total expense) - and he's not even Thai - that I would advise you to think very carefully if it's all worth it.

Sorry to piss on your parade, but I'm being honest.


:occasion9:

The advice to not buy the ticket is of course 100% correct. There is no such requirement for a schengen visa, in fact any embassy will (in bold letters) advise any applicant not to buy a ticket. You only have to submit a booking, not a confirmed air ticket (for obvious reasons!). Any travel agent in Thailand will be happy to provide such booking, completely free of charge. Only AFTER the visa has been approved, the applicant has to submit a fully paid (confirmed) ticket, this is usally done when collecting the passport (with the stamped visa).

Whether or not this is his first foreign trip is completely inconsequential, they are concerned about one thing, and one thing only, return to thailand after the alloted time has passed. i would definitely state that going the sponsorship route is vastly more easier then letting a Thai citizen apply for the visa on their own merit. As the sponsorship route is dead easy, last three salary slips, a sponsorship letter from the municipality and a introduction letter. Perhaps in this case, the latter will be the most difficult thing to produce, as the guy is onky 19, so possibly there isn't much history between sponsor and applicant.

I personally have gone the Schengen route for my Lao boyfriend 6 times (successfully) and three years ago, permanent residency in the Netherlands. I have assisted other (Thai ) people getting a Schengen visa into Nl 4 or 5 more times (again successfully), but all these times, the reason of the visit and the relationship with the sponsor was cristal clear and irreputable, which no doubt is the basis for these successfull vida applications.

In this case, I have a few doubts about the chance of success, and I am not hiding that I see the age of the guy as being the main reason for this doubt.

In any case, if going the sponsorship route, get your salary slips, a sponsor statement from city hall (stamped), and a good letter ready, copy of your passport is normally also needed (including entry/exit stamps), if not going the sponsorship route, your guy needs funds at least 30 euro for each day of intended stay, letter from employer (in which the period of vacation is approved). And finally the air booking.

In the unlikely event the visa is approved, you need to purchase the ticket and get him a travel insurance, both will be asked for at passport collection time.

Good luck.