Travel to Greece...

Hello, Happy New Year to you all!!!

I have a question i want to find out ...

A Lao citizen friend of mine wants to come for holidays in Greece on April, what does he have to do for a visa? Can he/she ask for it at Athens airport or it%26#39;s better to arrange it in Laos before he travels here so he/she can save time waiting at the airports?

What will be the cost of it?

Thank you

Steve

Travel to Greece...

No, you absolutely cannot get the visa in Greece.

I arranged this for my sister in law recently. You must get a Schengen visa. There is no Greek embassy in Laos, so you need to do it via the German or French Embassy. Your friend will need to show proof of Health Insurance for the period of time in Greece and will need to be sponsored. This means she, (come on, don%26#39;t be coy, of course it is a ';she';), will need a letter from her friend in Greece showing bank account statements and stating that you are prepared to support her for the period of time in Greece.

I can%26#39;t remember the exact cost, but I am pretty sure it was less than $100.00US. The health insurance was the most expensive part. It does take a little bit of time to do all this though, so look up Schengen Visa on the web and make sure you have all the necessary documentation before she goes to the embassy.

Send me a PM if you need more information.

Travel to Greece...

Hey there Rufus thank you for your reply!!

You know what? You made me more worried than before now!!! She has already been to German embassy there and has the documents needed to be filled up. She only stay on holiday here for 3 weeks though, she still needs schengen visa for rhis sort time? Can she ask for visa in Athens borders?

And what you said about friends account ,does it mean that i have to have a big bank account ?? I%26#39;m not a millionair you know...lol lol I just want to be thankful to the family i stayed last April and i was so happy to meet them all,so i want to invite 1 of them at a time in my country hopefully!!!

I have heard that i can send an invitation to her there that i will accomodate her here so she doesn%26#39;t need to have the 40000 US$ account they asked her in German embassy in Laos. Isn%26#39;t that true?

Looking forward to your reply

Thank you so much

Steve

Hi Steve,

No you definitely have to get the visa before you fly out. You can%26#39;t get it in Athens or on the border. Yes, she MUST have a schengen visa. Even my wife has to have a schengen visa to get in to Europe. I also forgot, you have to show a return airline ticket.

Steve, don%26#39;t be worried. like I said, i arranged this at the German Embassy for my Lao sister in Law. It was no problem. Just be prepared with the documents. No, you don%26#39;t need to be a millionaire, just show that you have a bank account with enough money in it to support her for the length of time she is there. Did they really say 40,000 dollars? They didn%26#39;t ask that of the guy who sponsored my sister in law.

Cheers,

Ron - and don%26#39;t worry; its not as bad as it sounds.

If you are REALLY worried, send me a message and I will give you my phone number. She can phone me and i will talk to her or go to the Embassy with her.

Hello again ,Thank you for all !!!

I will give all the info you told me to him and see what will happen. Besides there is plenty of time until April...

And yes when he asked for a schengen visa to Greece they told him that he needs an account in Lao bank with 40000 UD $. I thought that was really crazy!!!

Anyway if anything goes wrong again i%26#39;ll contact with you and let you know,we can chat through msn perhaps if you have,unfortunately phone is to expensive to call to Laos from Greece.

Thank you once more for everything Ron;)

Take care

byeee