Author: Irina
Registration of a Schengen visa is a sequence of simple and straightforward steps. It seems to be. I went to the official website of the country's embassy, downloaded a list of documents, collected them, handed them over to the visa center - and received a visa.
How much easier? - think Europeans, who do not know that salaries come in three colors, and money can be kept in three-liter compote jars.
Confirmation of financial solvency is a sore point for many Russians going abroad.
Include a sponsorship letter for a visa in your must-have package of documents:
- all unemployed citizens - freelancers, housewives
- employed citizens with a salary tending to the subsistence level in the Russian Federation
- pensioners
- students
- minor children.
It is widely believed that a sponsorship letter for a Schengen visa is an alternative to official sources of income. That is, work. In fact, the letter is a substitute for a bank statement, i.e. financial guarantees.
IMPORTANT: if you have a good bank account (from 100,000 rubles), a sponsorship letter is NOT NECESSARY for any of the categories listed above. A sponsor is needed when a tourist does not have his own funds to stay in another country.
LIFEHACK: if the account is empty / little money, and it is inconvenient to look for a sponsor, perhaps your good friend / relative will lend the missing amount - drop it into the account and make a statement. Then you can immediately remove and return 🙂
You can download it in the article below
Documents for a Schengen visa
To minimize the risks of being denied a visa, a potential tourist must prepare a standard set of documents:
- questionnaire
- Photo
- foreigner - valid + old, if it had Schengen visas for the last 5 years
- internal passport (copy)
- booking accommodation and tickets
- medical insurance for the time of entry and stay on the territory of the European Union
(it is more profitable to buy it online - on Cherekhape or Sravn.ru) - certificate from work / from educational institution / pension certificate
- financial guarantees - most often it is a bank statement or a sponsorship letter
- birth certificate for children under 14 years old
- consent to the departure of a minor child from a parent (or both parents), who does not accompany him on the trip. This document must be notarized. If the parent accompanies the child only partially, for example, the father is already abroad, and the child and mother join later, consent is still needed.
Different countries have different rules about who can sponsor. Visa centers Of Italy, France and Germany insist on a mandatory relationship between the sponsor and the applicant.
Spain, Greece, Czech Republic more loyal: any person with financial capabilities, including NOT a relative, can become a sponsor.
Great Britain considers as a sponsor the organization, relatives and friends of the visa applicant, who during his stay in GB will also be in the country.
Requirements for a sponsorship letter
How to write a sponsorship letter? The statement is made in free form and is issued in printed form. The sponsor signs personally. Before composing a letter, it is necessary to check on the website of the visa center of a particular country in which language they accept documents for consideration.
General points that should be reflected in the sponsorship letter:
- Full name and data of the sponsor's passport
- The phrase about the willingness to pay all expenses for the upcoming trip
- Destination country
- Travel dates
- Full name and data of the sponsored passport
- Date of preparation of the sponsorship letter
- Sponsor's signature
Do I need to notarize a letter from a sponsor? No no need. Schengen countries do not put forward such requirements to the document.
Sample sponsorship letter for a Schengen visa
A sponsorship letter for a Spain visa might look like this:
Title: Sponsorship Statement
Text: I, ***, passport ***, issued ***, date of issue ***, expiration date ***, residing at ***,
sponsoring the trip of my son / sister / parent / friend ***, passport ***, issued ***, date of issue ***, expiration date ***, residing at ***, in Kingdom of Spain from *** to ***.
I undertake to cover all expenses related to the trip in full.
Number.
Signature.
You can provide a sponsorship letter to Spain in Russian or Spanish. In the Czech Republic and Greece, the sample will look the same, except for the country name.
Where to look for inexpensive visa insurance?
A common mistake many tourists make is buying insurance directly in front of the visa center or inside, where offers are far from being the cheapest. Making insurance online is a matter of 5 minutes and several hundred rubles. You can also go to the site, select the desired option and enter your data through a smartphone.
I have three verified services on my list; each time I compare where the conditions are more favorable:
- Cherekhapa
- Compare.ru
- Strahovkaru.ru
Insurance for 7-10 days costs 500-800 rubles. I usually opt for reputable companies that have no problems with claims payments. For example, AlfaStrakhovanie. At the same time, their price is absolutely average. A more economical option is offered by Uralsib. Of course, anyone is suitable for a Schengen visa, the main thing is that the coverage is from € 30,000.
In addition to the sponsorship letter for a visa itself, a sample of 2021 of which is presented above, the sponsor must submit the following applications to the visa center:
- certificate from the place of work on the official letterhead of the organization, indicating the position and level of salary
- bank statement for the last 3 months
- a copy of the passport
- document confirming relationship with the sponsored (birth certificate, marriage certificate), if required
Features of writing in different Schengen countries
Despite the common visa control area, the policies of different EU countries regarding the requirements for sponsors are different.
🇮🇹 It is possible to issue a sponsorship letter to Italy only if the sponsor and those he sponsors travel together. This must be confirmed by the booking of tickets and accommodation. Relationship is required. The sponsor must be either the parent or spouse of the person applying for the visa. Writing language: English or Italian.
🇫🇷 The travel to France of the visa applicant and his sponsor does not have to be joint. However, the French also insist on close family ties (parents, children, grandparents, spouses). All accompanying documents must be in English or French.
🇬🇷 🇨🇿 🇪🇸 Sponsorship letter to Greece and Czech Republic is similar to Spanish. These countries do not insist on affiliation with the sponsor. It is not a relative who can pay for the trip. We will accept a document in Russian.
🇬🇧 Great Britain, which in the foreseeable future may cease to be a member of the European Union, does not belong to the Schengen area. The British require a separate visa. And you need to take on this business, armed with knowledge of the English language. Because all the information on the official website is in English. Of course, the sponsorship letter is written in Shakespeare's language.
One of the most common cases when a sponsorship letter is written is to receive a Schengen for a child. The peculiarities of Russian reality are such that minors rarely have a bank account. Although some European countries (Norway in particular) emphasize the priority of their own financial guarantees for each traveler, including children, most often in these cases one of the parents is the sponsor.
If the child still has an account that has sufficient funds for the trip, a sponsorship letter is not needed.In addition, the parent may not issue letter if the child is under 14 years old travels with both father and mother... That is confirmed by the booking of tickets and accommodation.
Sample sponsorship letter for a child
A sample sponsorship letter for a Schengen visa for a child in 2021 is not much different from the same document for an adult. You can download the sample above, supplementing it with the phrase about relationship with a minor.
If one of the family members is sponsoring several people, then you can write one letter, listing everyone who needs sponsorship.
Personal example: in November 2017, I applied for a Spanish visa for myself and my child. I do not work, neither I nor the child have a bank account. My husband wrote us a sponsorship letter (one for two), provided a certificate of income from work, a bank statement for the last 3 months and a copy of a passport with an open Schengen area. Visas were given.
Sponsorship letter in English
In a number of countries - Italy, France, UK - the sponsorship letter must be written either in the native language of the issuing country or in English. There is no need to be afraid of this and there is no need to order a translation from a specialized bureau either. On the Internet, you can easily find a sample visa sponsorship letter in English.
Example in English
I, ***, passport ***, guarantee full financial support to my wife / husband / daughter / son / ect. *** during his / her visit to Italy from *** till ***. Contact phone number ***.
Number.
Signature.
Filling out the application must be made according to the data of the passport.
Our Tips
✓ If you have doubts about the need to provide a sponsorship letter for the Schengen, it is better to clarify the information with the consulate of a particular country. The policy of different countries on this issue may vary slightly.
✓ Understand what can anyone who has access to the Internet and the appropriate motivation. Do not think that agencies offering their services for obtaining visas have any special knowledge and authority. The system is designed primarily for private tourists.
✓ Life hack about the benefits of preparing documents in advance. Never (!) Take pictures at the visa center without good reason. There is no photographer who tilts his head in the right direction. There is a machine gun. The desired picture can be taken hardly the third time. And that's not all! Unsuccessful attempts are paid.
✓ The main points on which a “beginner” tourist can “cut off” are:
- medical insurance and photos not taken in advance;
- execution, notarization and translation into English of documents that are not necessary.
Having spent a couple of hours of time studying the issue, you can save not a fabulous, but a pleasant amount of money. And spend it on an extra bottle of wine on the same trip.
