How to apply Schengen Visa in Singapore

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Apart from Singaporeans and citizens of countries with visa-free agreements, citizens of small countries like me, Myanmar, still need to apply for a visa to visit Europe. It's called a Schengen Visa.

The advantage of the Schengen Visa is that we can travel around every country, except the UK, in Europe by applying one time in a specific Embassy. 

Firstly, we have to decide which embassy we should apply to. As every embassy has its own requirements, we have to check out the list carefully on each website. The most important thing in making the decision is which country you arrive at first. 

For Instance, we must go French embassy website and book VFS Global for a biometric scan if our trip plan starts from there. As for me, I have booked at BLS International because my first arrival is in Rome, Italy. 




Other necessary documents are as shown below.


(1)    Employment Letter

Sample of Employment Letter

The Employment Letter is a recommendation letter from the current company. It must state that the company is aware of the applicant's trip and that the applicant will be solely responsible for the expenses incurred. The other factors mentioned in that letter are the company's letterhead, legal chop, the name of authority, his/her position, sign, and contact. 
The details are available to check in the sample picture. 

The students may also need a letter from the designated school or college. 

According to my experience, I want to suggest making sure earlier that your company allow you to take Holidays and one of your colleagues will be a back-up for you during these days. 


(2)    Travel Insurance


It is also an important document because we need to submit it with our application to the embassy. The insurance must cover Euro 30,000 or SGD 50,000. 

I bought it from DBS and it varies depending on the country we visit. This trip only charges SGD 59.96. 

Choosing the Insurance company is your freewill as there are plenty of companies in Singapore such as NTUC Income, AIA or the banks that you usually use. The prices are also almost the same. 

My suggestion is that everybody should buy travel insurance whenever they travel even if they don't need to prove it. It seems nothing is worth it if we don't face any trouble but it will prove to us when some conditions become worse. For instance, we can easily claim insurance for some minor cases such as Luggage missing or destroyed during the flight, flight cancellation or delay. We don't need to worry about hospital or clinic fees in case we face serious illness during our vacation. The most interesting advantage is that it even covers death because of plane crashes or kidnappings.

One of the insurance companies said in their slogan,
"Nothing can bring if you die, but you can leave riches behind for your loved ones."

That's a part of the truth. Insurance may not be worth in norm but it can provide us secure mindset. One of my colleagues said once, " At least, they will pray for you in good health as soon as you buy insurance."



(3)    Bank statement

Actually, they don't ask for a fixed amount in our bank account but we need to show our bank draft for at least 3 or 6 months (must carefully check on the embassy's website). Firstly, I made a mistake downloading statements from online banking and printing them by myself. Later, I found that the embassy doesn't accept this kind of document and only accepts the statement from actual banks with official chops.



(4)    Round trip Air ticket reservation


We need to show two-way air tickets but it is necessary to buy first and just submit a booking ticket only. 
 
Nevertheless, I recommend buying it early by checking the promotion period on specific Airlines so that we get the best price or cheaper price. In that way, we can reduce costs for our trip. However, we have to be careful what if we don't get the visa.  

Besides, we still need to prove how to travel inside the Schengen area, by coach or train and any other transportation, by showing reserved tickets which brought online. 

If we join tour groups from travel agencies, they will help to prepare for us these kinds of documents. 







(5)    Travel Itinerary



Example of Hotel Booking
























We need to provide the details of our travel plan including countries, towns or cities, date of arrival and the temporary resident addresses.

As hotel bookings are essential, we have to make reservations at every specific hotel in each town. We can choose "book now, pay later options" at some accommodation websites like AirBnB and Agoda.  On these websites, we can also easily check their locations and facilities as per reviews from previous guests. 

It will take your time, so travelling with an agency may better option if you are a busy individual.  



(6)   Visa Appointment

It is not possible for someone else to apply for a Schengen Visa on behalf of the applicant. The applicant must apply in person to provide biometric data, including face and fingerprint scans.

Firstly,  we have to make an appointment at the Visa centre as nowadays, we don't need to go to the embassy directly and the official Visa Centres are working for them. We then print out the appointment letter to attach with other documents. 

Visa Centres service only biometric data and checking documents, and approving Visa is not their concern. It is authorised by officers from the designated embassy. The processing time normally takes only 5 working days but for some citizens, processing will be longer, approximately 15 days. 


(7) Other Documents


Apart from the above factors, we must submit 
  1. Original and a copy of Passport 
  2. Singapore ID copy 
  3. A passport photo (carefully check the requirements at the designated embassy's website)
  4. Application form
  5. Marriage certificate (for married couple)
  6. Re-entry permit (for Singapore PR)


Visa Centre provide only 15 minutes per slot for a person but they are patient to wait for required documents. Providing the full required information, the visa centre appreciated my effort.  

Even though I tried my best to collect documents for six months, I didn't expect too much as the approval was not under control by myself. I had already thought about rejection or a longer processing time.

However, my visa was approved two days later. I strongly believe that hard work and intention give a valuable prize in return.


Please make sure that our environment is not destroyed by our actions.

-May Thoon Khit-

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