European visa fees for Thais to rise 33%

European visa fees for Thais to rise 33%

From Feb 2, 2020, Thai citizens will need to pay a fee of 80 euros (2,676 baht) -- one third more than the current 60 euros -- when applying for a Schengen (EU) visa from Thailand, according to the website SchengenVisaInfo.com. The cost for children will rise from 35 euros to 40 euros.

The fees could be up to twice as much, however, for visas to EU nations without visa offices in Thailand. Visitors to those countries will have to apply through an external service provider – and those companies are allowed to charge an additional fee that can be as high as the cost of the visa itself. 

“A visa fee of €120 or €160 will apply to non-cooperative third-countries, in cases when the EU Commission considers that action is needed in order to improve the level of cooperation of the third country concerned and the Union's overall relations with that third country,” said Gent Ukëhajdaraj from SchengenVisaInfo.com. 

The new rules permit Thais to submit an application up to six months in advance of their trip, instead of the current three, and in theory will facilitate “the issuing of multiple entry visas with lengthier validity to regular travellers with a positive visa history.”

However, in other cases it is feared that visa validity may be shortened and visa processing periods prolonged.

The website’s figures show that in 2018, Schengen embassies and consulates in Thailand processed 332,269 visa applications. Of those, 11,102, or 3.3% of the total, were rejected. 

Thais spent a total of 19,936,140 euros on visa applications to Europe – including 666,120 euros on applications that were denied. 

France was the most popular country for applicants, followed by Germany.

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