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I'll try to keep this as short and precise as possible:

I am 26 y.o. male from Tunisia. I work as a fulltime game developer with an Australian company. I receive $2500/month through bank transfer. I am not an employee of that company, instead I have my own company here, and we do all the necessary exchange.

Everything is legal and I pay my taxes and all that jazz since 2017 Also can provide bank account statement, and the €30k coverage can be provided by my bank (they include that service for companies like mine)

My girlfriend is 24 y.o., also from Tunsia. She finished highschool and then studied in a private school and graduated as a pharmacist. She doesn't work cause the max salary here for her field is ~$200/month, and the work condition is awful.

We traveled together 3 times in the past (2016, 2017 and 2019), all 3 times where to South Korea (doesn't require Visa for Tunisians), we stayed almost 1 month for each visit, and spent around $10k per visit (can prove that through my Payoneer transactions).

Also, not sure if this matter but we've been together since 2012 and we can easily prove that.

The questions:

  • Is it possible for me to support her application and help establish her willingness to return to the country?

  • Do you happen to know any certain services online that offers premium help for this kinda of situations?

    Knowing that my main potential destinations (just one of them) are (in order): the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Italy and Spain (or Canada if for some reason it's easier)

  • Is there any other advice that you can recommend?

Community
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alaslipknot
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    I reopened the question as the specific issue raised by the OP isn't addressed in the purported duplicate. To clarify: the difficulty here is that the OP's girlfriend applying on her own would almost certainly be denied a visa (young, single, qualified, no career, poor finances) and their relationship (without marriage or cohabitation) might not be enough to support a joint application and establish strong ties to the country. – Relaxed Feb 23 '20 at 08:22
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    A good answer (which I am unfortunately unable to provide) would (1) provide a better assessment of the chances of success based, e.g., on previous experience with a similar situation (2) give tips on how to present the application and (3) possibly identify consulates that might be more friendly to such an application. All of this goes way beyond an explanation of the rules, which leave a lot to be decided by consular officers. – Relaxed Feb 23 '20 at 08:24

1 Answers1

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Yes, you can provide the funding.

Regarding the edited bullet points:

  1. You cannot establish her willingness to leave the Schengen area since you cannot make her leave. Making such a promise won't be helpful.
    You can establish where the funding for her part of the trip comes from and that the two of you have a stable economic situation with your company. A household income of $2,500/month looks quite good.
  2. I have no experience with any such service, but there are plenty of stories from people who were advised by "visa agents" to lie about their situation. Check everything that goes out under your name very carefully.
  3. Keep it simple, keep it truthful. Any stories of specific consulates deviating from the Schengen rules might change with personnel reassignments and administrative shakeups. Besides, you likely qualify for a visa from the financial viewpoint anyway.
    • Decide which Schengen country you want to visit and why. Then apply there. Don't make it look as if you want to enter just any Schengen country that will let you in.
    • Plan your itinerary. Are there any events or times of the year you want to see? Scandinavia for hiking in summer or for winter sports? No long stories in the cover letter, but a coherent trip.
    • Going to a country with an established tourist industry could be a good idea, but many Schengen countries have that.
    • Since Europe is closer than South Korea, make the trip not too long. You seem to be spending 1/3 of your income (before taxes) on travel.
o.m.
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  • What is this answer based on? – Relaxed Feb 22 '20 at 07:33
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    @Relaxed, it appeared to me that the OP is mixing the use of "sponsorship" for an EU family/dependent visa or for visitors in some other jurisdictions with the Schengen short-stay visa. No "sponsor" or "invitation" is required for a Schengen visa, but an explanation for the source of funds is necessary. – o.m. Feb 22 '20 at 07:49
  • I read your answer but what is this analysis based on? And what makes you think this is the main difficulty with this application? – Relaxed Feb 22 '20 at 08:52
  • @Relaxed, consider the first bullet point question by the OP. I believe that it is based on a mistaken understanding of "sponsorship" in a Schengen visa application. – o.m. Feb 22 '20 at 16:05
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    That's possible but that's not my point, as I said I read your answer and I understood that. But you seem to attach a lot of importance to the “source of funds” and I don't know where that's coming from or how it's relevant. On the other hand, it's not obvious to me that such an informal relationship would be sufficient to avoid her financial situation to be scrutinized on its own, even if the OP went to the trouble of wiring money to an account in her name and provide a paper trail regarding its origin. The OP hasn't even specified whether they live together or not! – Relaxed Feb 22 '20 at 19:04
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    @relaxed , it's still illegal for unmarried couples to live together in this country... but we've been together for 8 years now. also your questions makes a lot of sense, i asked in other forums and they said there is a lot of red-flag from north african overstaying their tourist visa and start looking for immigration to the EU, so yeah, that might be problematic, specially that most interviews are done with a 3rd private party that has nothing to do with the embassies (except business ofc) – alaslipknot Feb 22 '20 at 19:39
  • @o.m. , i edited the title, now regarding the last 3 points we need to prove, the legal ones are easy and none of us has any past legal trouble or anything, now, how do we prove that we have been a long term couple and that this is not just a ruse for her to overstay there ? we have pictures, social-media status/posts, and we traveled 3 times together in the past with me paying for her tickets and expenses all three times (i can prove that too), edit: forgot to say thanks :p – alaslipknot Feb 22 '20 at 20:06
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    @o.m. I removed the word “sponsor” from the question since it appears to bother you so much. The question remains. Personally I have my doubts but if you have independent evidence that this is completely normal and an application is likely to succeed provided the OP establish they are seeing each other it would be good to add it to your answer. – Relaxed Feb 23 '20 at 08:33
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    @alaslipknot Yes, that's what I was afraid of. Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with this specific situation to provide any help but what you read is correct, there are a lot of red flags here and you are right to be careful. – Relaxed Feb 23 '20 at 08:38
  • @Relaxed thanks for the extra clarification points (here and in the edited version of the original comment), one final question, what is considered a "correct reason" for the "willingness to leave the Schengen area ", because to be honest, even me wouldn't qualify for that if we are being "realistic", i work from home and receive all my money through the internet, what would make the visa agent not think that i will just overstay and keep working from there ? see what i mean ? is there some specific "rules" for this particular "rule" ? thanks! – alaslipknot Feb 24 '20 at 03:48