Tongue tied over French visa

Applying for Schengen Visa is costly for Thais and time consuming especially through the French embassy.

Apart from Bt2,727 visa fee, applicants have to pay  Bt1,200 in visa service fees to the centre, which is outsourced to a private company. The service centre is about as luxurious as a Thailand Post office.

Last month, I attended a Travel Agents Association’s meeting when the board committee advised members that they should always apply for Schengen visa for their customers at least two weeks in advance. At the time I thought that was excessive, but that was before I stood in the queue to apply for my own visa. From my experience, I would recommend travel agents should revise the estimate to around three weeks.

When I applied  there were many holidays on the calendar and the application centre was closed. This has to be taken into account. The centre takes all of the French and Thai holidays and would probably take a few more if it could to honour all the other Schengen visa countries.

Since 1 February, this year, the embassy has been outsourcing its visa applications to TLS Contact (Telesmart International). It makes sense for the embassy staff, of course, to place this activity well out of sight. Keeps the embassy corridors clear and tidy, while the visa applicants can enjoy the thrill of going online and booking their places in a virtual queue on the website https://www.tlscontact.com/th2fr/login.php.

I booked my appointment three weeks in advance. Two days later I called the office to change the appointment due to some changes in my air ticket. I was told “sorry, the queue was full until the end of the month” which means the two week option is never on the horizon. The queue extends into a month, or more, especially during a peak travel period.

One of the reasons of going online is to reduce the nuisance of telephone calls. They interrupt the thought patterns of staff, who have much better things to do in life than answer a phone. Yet if you must call, you quickly discover the line is always busy. I tried for two days to get through.

On the appointment date, I arrived at the centre at Sathorn City Tower about 30 minutes before my appointment. There were only a few sofas enough for six people and the rest were standing in line.

From time to time an embassy official announced she was ready to start the interview procedure. You had to be quite good in hearing to catch this low-key should I say whisper? It caused a ripple of queue disturbances. Some did not jump to attention and were left fumbling around wondering why they were the last in the queue. They missed their turn.

Stage two begins with  a visit to a nearby counter to pay the fee. It took about 30 minutes to pay the fee to a Chinese lady who apparently could not speak Thai or understandable English. She communicated exclusively by sign language. After paying for the visa application and outsource fee, I was told in sign language to go and take a seat.

It was similar to placing cash in the palm before you get your fortune read. In this case, it was about whether you would be able to travel to a land of promise and plenty for a holiday. No cash, no interview. And if you flop your interview, guess what, they keep the cash.

There were 12 interview counters but two were closed with signs that indicated they only served tour groups or companies that had a preferential relationship with the embassy.

While waiting, we could view our progress on a television monitor, but on this particular day the TV failed. Two hours later I discovered that I should have registered all over again to let the system know that I had coughed up the cash and was ready to move to the interview phase.

It was about five metres away from the cashier, but it was obviously not online as it requied a real-world  response: “I have paid the woman over there.Ok.”  There are some regulations on the correct amount of paperwork that haven’t changed since the French Revolution, no matter what advances have been made in communications.

Of course, none of the staff bother to let you know about this re-registration gig. They probably take bets on how long it will it take for the penny to drop.

I put the poor communication down to the fact that that the cashier was using French sign language. The fact I was not the only victim helped. I noticed a man furiously complaining that he had waited for three hours to be called. “Well, have you registered”, was the stock response.

Another 15 minutes and I was in the interview room. My documentation passed and I was told I would need to wait another 10 days for the visa procedure to be approved. The centre would inform me by mobile SMS or email on the date when I could pick up my passport.

It never happened. I had to log in on the website and track my passport to get the exact date when my passport had been returned to the centre.

I called the centre to ask if the visa had been approved. The centre said they did not have the right to look at my passport and find out. Hello, these are the same people who have been pouring over my bank statements and other ID related documents.

According to the embassy website, TLS Contact must ensure available and permanent information for visa applicants; a personalised welcome, in a timely manner (72 hours) and a deposit facility application; and ability following the visa application progress via the internet, a real-time information for the applicant, by e-mail or SMS, of passport availability.

It seemed that they have great difficulty following these requirements. So what are the differences between this luxurious outsource centre and a Thai post office? I would give the post office the heads up on this. They have staff who speak both Thai and, at a pinch, enough English to avoid sign language.