Hey, everybody, it's Grant Thomas from Visa's Association.
And in this video,
I'm going to tackle one of the most common questions that we have,
which is: "what documents do I need for my Schengen visa"?
Although this question is quite complex, because if you're being sponsored,
if you're child, if you're a student or if you're applying yourself to go travelling,
all of the requirements fundamentally change.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm going
to tackle all of these kinds of requirements together.
And then in other videos, I'll run through some of the exact
requirements for different people in different scenarios.
So there are really three core elements
when it comes to a Schengen visa application.
And we kind of bring them into a pyramid, if we will,
in relation to how Visas Association approaches this.
The very first one is what we call the personal proof.
Now, personal proof is looking at things that validate and verify that you, are you.
Right. And so we're looking at passports.
We're looking at recent photos.
We're looking at even utility bills
to make sure that your address matches the address on the utility bills.
We're also looking at birth certificates, et cetera.
So what the Schengen region does is they
use this to validate that you are a real person and towards the end of this video
I'll run through some exact examples of this and a little bit deeper of a list.
This is just to get you to understand the structure of what they do.
The second thing that they look for is
to try and validate you are travelling and you are going to come back to the region
that you left. Right, too many times
there are people who travel and actually travel and stay, right.
And this is what we call illegal immigrants.
And so what the Schengen region embassy or
consulate is trying to do is make sure and validate that you are going to return
back to your country of residence, whether it's that country that you're
a citizen of or another country that you're residing in.
It doesn't really matter.
All they want to do is make sure that you're going to be in the Schengen
region for the time that you outline and that you're going to go back.
And so they look at this through things
like your flights, your accommodation, et cetera.
Again, dive into a little bit more detail in a minute.
And then the third and final way
that they're looking to validate the whole travel is through your financial proof.
People at refugees,
They go and travel without the means
to sort of go back home or anything like that, looking to completely migrate.
And so what they then try and do is
validate that you have the financial means to come back to your country of residency.
So they again, want to make sure that you
can travel and see the sights and do the things that you would like to do
within the Schengen region, but also that you're able to get back.
And these are the three key pillars.
So when you're bringing all of your
requirements together, look at them all separately based on what
is the embassy or the consulate trying to validate from me.
I know this is oversimplifying it, and I wish that all these websites,
as well as even the embassies themselves, would outline this to you.
But this is fundamentally the number one structure you have to think of when you're
going and applying for your Schengen Visa.
I know it can be highly frustrating to get
utility bills, birth certificates, flight reservations, all of those things.
But when you think about it
from the embassies and consulates perspective, it is all about how do we
make sure this person is legitimate in regards to ensuring that there's no
criminals that come in or no one who's going to impact the economy.
They also want to make sure that you are
legitimately going to return and that you do have the financial means to cover
yourself if there is an accident, but also cover yourself to come back as well.
So now I'm going to jump into the next part of the video.
So what I will also do is there are a lot
of people talking about what if I'm a student?
What if I'm a child?
What if I'm going to see my family
and I'll link up in the top corner for some other examples around this as well.
So let's jump into what does it look like for each one of these?
Now, again, some of the items in this list are dependent on if you have got
an application where you're travelling yourself or your funding it yourself or if
you're going to see some family members over in the Schengen region or if you're
a child or a parent sponsoring a child or if you're going for studies.
Now, that is a very different conversation around it.
Again, all of the items that you see a generic in nature
and you will need to understand the requirements in order for you to know
exactly which ones apply to your situation.
So the first one is your valid passport, right.
Valid means that from the end date of your travel, there is still three months on
the passport. It can't be torn, it can't look invalid.
It must still have available pages, et cetera.
You've also then got to write a cover letter.
This outlines why you're travelling, where you are travelling to.
What activities are looking to do?
Are the documents that you have provided to the consulate right, etc.
Then they're also going to need to require photos.
And I look for two different photos because they do go to two different parties.
And within these photos,
they have to meet the same requirements as a passport photo.
So you've already done this to get a passport.
Apply the same logic to getting your recent photos.
They have to be within the last three
to six months to make sure that it looks like you and it's completely valid.
The next one is the certified copy of your passport.
So don't go sending the embassy and consulate your actual passport.
Get it photocopied and then get it
certified or notarized depending on which country you're in:
this can be done at pharmacies, police stations, by lawyers, etc.
Just Google how to certify documents
and you'll see exactly how to do that within your specific country.
Again, from country to country.
Very different.
And the next one is the application form.
So this is where you talk about your means of travel.
Who you are, what your address is,
how long you're going to stay and things like that.
And up in the top corner.
I will actually link to a video that walks
you through how to fill out the form as well.
Then they're going gonna look at your birth certificates where they will ask:
Is this person legitimately them?
Again, there are too many people
who try and travel who aren't supposed to travel.
Utility bills is around validating your address.
Right.
So just get your electricity bill, your gas bill, your water bill, etc.
And if you're renting or you don't have something with your address on it.
Use your mobile phone bill.
All completely acceptable.
Again, this is just a form
of identification that is very difficult to fraudulently
submit to the embassy / consulate.
Next is, if you're married, you can provide your civil status.
So a lot of people travel and they want
to go and see their husband or their wife overseas.
Or, they want to travel with their husband or wife again,
include this requirement. For those of you who have gone
into the Schengen region before, provide your previously approved visa.
Again, this shows the embassy that you're good to travel.
You then if you're a student, show your student enrollment.
If you need to go there because of family court order,
Include that court order.
Again, these all seem highly logical
when you think about someone who doesn't know who you are trying to validate
the number one question of:
Is this a real person? Right.
So all of these documents are very hard to fraudulently obtain,
which is why they asked for so many different documents.
If you're a child travelling,
you need copies of the passports of both your
parents or legal guardian as well as them to complete an authorization form.
And there's many other documents.
Again, this is just to help you to know
what documents you need to include in each scenario.
So that's underneath the personal proof.
Next is the travel proof.
And the travel proof is the one that a lot of people get tripped up because you've
got the booking of flights and the booking of accommodation.
There are countries that do not accept reserved bookings.
I'll say that upfront.
A key example of that is actually the UK where they don't accept reserved bookings.
They actually need you to do another process.
However, outside of that.
Most countries such as Philippines,
Vietnam, India, etc, will allow you to have what we call
reserved flights and reserved accommodation.
And what this means is that you can actually pay an airline
to reserve a flight which is not actually paying for the full flight itself.
And this it's really important.
Now, Visa Association, do this for you.
And we've been doing it for quite a while.
But the number one thing that I will share to you
is we have a lot of people coming to us who have been rejected because they've
used fake or dummy flights or fake or dummy hotel bookings.
And the difficulty with this is when you
apply to a consulate or an embassy with fake documents,
it is actually counted as a criminal act, which is fraud. Now,
depending on the embassy, will depend on how seriously they take it.
But it is actually a criminal act.
And I suggest do not use fake or dummy flights, get them officially reserved for you
where the embassy can go online, put in your reservation I.D. number
and verify that these flights match exactly what your itinerary is saying.
The next one is approved leave from your employer, as well as making sure that they
say, yes, you do have a job, you are going to come back and it's all good.
You've also got the full itinerary.
So this is what they really need to know, that you're not just jumping on a flight,
going to Italy or France or wherever and then trying to figure out what to do.
This means it's been a premeditated process.
The travel looks real.
Because why else would you put so much
time and effort into looking at different sites, looking at different restaurants,
looking at all those different culinary experiences?
Because a lot of people who don't want
to return home would not even think about doing it.
You then need what we call a "NOC" letter or no obligation certificate.
Now, this can be from your employer.
It could be from your school.
It could be from parents, etc.
And this says that there is no objection to you travelling.
Think of it like a little bit of a vote
of someone voting for you and saying, yes, we support this person travelling.
And again, in other videos,
we'll walk through exactly how to write one of these.
And exactly how to do it.
You've got then your certified sponsor letter.
And what the certified sponsor letter
relates to is if you're being funded or supported financially by somebody else,
that they actually outline that, yes, this person is supported by us.
And here is our passport.
Here is our financial means.
Here is whether in the stay, etc, etc.
You're also going to need a photocopy
of the sponsors passport, a copy of their income tax return.
You're going to need a lot of things.
So if you are sponsored this requirement, so this does expand significantly.
Then if you're going to do it yourself.
And again, all of this is around the question:
"Are you going to go back home
and who are you going to travel to see to do what?"
Etc.
and the third and final one, which is a key one where a lot of rejections come from outside
of the fake dummy flights is what we call the financial proof.
So this is: "do you actually have income to support your travel?"
A lot of the times the Schengen region will reject
applications, because they feel like the individual does
not have the financial means to get themselves back home in case of emergency.
And so when they look at that,
most people travel because they've got enough money to travel.
They're not trying to put it on a credit card.
And that's kind of what they're looking to do.
So they're looking for your certificate of employment or your employment contract.
So depending on your situation,
you could just pick up your employment contract, get it certified or get a copy
of it certified and submit that. They're then looking for your payslips.
Now, they will look at the last six months of payslips.
So if you have just got a job, go and get your previous works payslips.
For those of you who do not have work and do not have a stable income.
You can actually use the sponsors income and their payslips, right. Income tax return
this is for your last financial year.
What was your income and what was your taxable income?
Again, what they're trying to prove is that someone just hasn't gone and put
a lump sum or a lump dollar figure in your bank.
And they're essentially making sure
that you do have a stable income within that country.
Again, to make sure you're coming back.
You then include your bank statements.
This is, again, to avoid that mistake
of where people just put one lump sum in immediately.
So they'll want your last six months with a bank statements.
So if someone is sponsoring you,
the recommendation is get them to provide value or provide an amount in your bank
account greater than six months so that it actually trends all the way through.
If applicable, a certificate from your bank to actually say that, yes,
you are there. For those of you who have investments or
pensioners or otherwise include those documents as well.
So when we say investments or pensions or
any other things like that, it is any other means of income that you
can have, such as dividends from shares, rent from investment properties,
pensions which come from governments, et cetera.
Next is, if you own a business,
you can bring in the registration, your company, the income of your company, etc.
Right.
The list is quite long.
So in other videos,
I'll walk through exactly how you know, which requirements to putting yourself.
But that is kind of the key elements
to the requirements that are required for a Schengen Visa.
And every single person who applies has
different requirements that they need to include.
It depends on your civil status.
It depends on the type of Visa you are going for.
Is it single, multiple or double entry,
are you travelling to see some family or are you travelling as a tourist?
Is someone sponsoring you or sponsoring yourself, etc.
All of them essentially influence the key
requirements that you need in order to get a Schengen Visa.
So hopefully that has helped you understand sort of this great wide world
of the documents that you need to include in your Schengen Visa.
But if you do have any other questions, feel free to comment below.
And let me know what I can further assist you with or anything like that.
And also, what would be fantastic is if you can click the "LIKE" button below,
because there's too much generic information on Schengen Visas out there.
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And I've also linked to two other videos
that might help you in your journey, a little bit more relating to Schengen Visas.
So once again, thank you very much.
And hopefully this has been highly valuable.