Schengen visa 101

Documents Required - again, this requirement varies across all embassies in all countries. Below is based on what we applied at the Italy Embassy in Thailand (both from what the embassy stated and what we experienced after reading from many forums on the net). This visa is for maximum 90 days duration of stay.


1. Application form with one recent photo (application can be downloaded off their website)
2. Passport that is valid at least 90 days after the expiration of visa.
3. Letter of employer (in case of employee) or commercial license (in case of independent worker) specifying the profession, monthly salary, statement that you have been approved annual/holiday leaves and that you are returning to work after your vacation. With company letterhead, of course.
4. Copy of the bank statements showing the bank movements of the past 4 months at least. For the amount of many inside the bank, there's no certain formula really - despite my 4 attempts of calling the embassy to ask for it, but here's some rough guide from the embassy's website:

Length of sojourn	One member	Two or more members
1-5 days: overall fixed amount	€ 269,60	€ 212,81
6-10 days: per persons/day	€ 44,93	€ 26,33
11-20 days: overall fixed amount	€ 51,64	€ 25,82
Daily amount per person	€ 36,67	€ 22,21
Above 20 days: fixed amount:	€ 206,58	€ 118,79
Daily amount per person	€ 27,89	€ 17,04

In case if you are on a sponsored trip, get the sponsor to write a statement letter specifying his name, passport number and the statement that he will be sponsoring you throughout the trip ended with a signature.

5. Flight reservation (no need to pay), and the real ticket (paid) upon collection of your approved visa.
6. Confirmation of hotel booking, or in case of staying in a private house, an invitation letter from the host in Italy.
7. Travel insurance policy (paid) for all countries in the Schengen states for the whole period of stay with minimum liability of Euro 30.000.

And because we are foreigners in Thailand, we were required to present our work permit and re-entry visa too.

For underage children traveling with a single parent, a written consent of the other parent is required.

We were told to wait for 2 weeks to hear the approval, but thank God we got it only in 1 week.

So we're going to Europe. Now what?

Having received this western europe trip as a gift for my 25th birthday is kind of a blessing. At first our itinerary was only Milan - Ospedaletto - Venice, well, mainly Italy because the Italian friends we know were going back home for summer holiday. But after further thoughts filled with anxieties, pleading, etc., my partner gave up and came up with this final itinerary list.

Istanbul (we took Turkish Airlines so this is a stopover) - Rome - Venice - Brussels - Brugge - Paris

Sounds good to me. Rome --> the mecca. of my religion. Paris --> the mecca of my dream. :)

So next, what? Bought tickets, book hotels and that's it? How I wish.

Being Indonesians we still need to apply for the Schengen visa. For those who are newbies as we were, Schengen is an area in Europe that covers 25 countries. In other words, if you've got yourself a Schengen visa, you're approved to travel within the countries listed in the Schengen without having to apply another visa - unless you get out of it halfway and decide to go back. Those countries are:

1. Austria

2. Belgium

3. Czech Republic

4. Denmark

5. Estonia

6. Finland

7. France

8. Germany 

9. Greece

10. Hungary

11. Iceland

12. Italy

13. Latvia

14. Lithuania

15. Luxembourg

16. Malta

17. Netherlands

18. Norway

19. Portugal

20. Poland

21. Slovakia

22. Slovenia

23. Spain

24. Sweden

25. Switzerland

For Schengen visa, you will need to apply it at the country where you'll be spending the most time at. For us, it's Italy. So I made a call to the Italy embassy 2-3 months before my intended departure date. Little did I know that we needed to be on the queuing list for 1 month or so! Good thing I called that time. But this varies across all embassies in every country. For instance, my friend who applied at the Belgium embassy here in Thailand wasn't required to wait at all. Neither for my friend who applied at the Germany embassy in Singapore. For safest bet, do call them and ask for all the requirements needed, in as much detail as possible because some embassies love to give 'surprises'.