Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Schengen Visa Application for Students


Assalamualaikum kawan2 :)
Nak tulis bahasa omputih la kali ni.
Orang kata practice makes perfect :P

Sorry guys I rarely update my blog lately 'cause I was pretty occupied with my research attachment matters.
While I was searching for information regarding Schengen visa for students from Malaysia,
I found it very difficult and the resources are very limited.
It took me quite a long time to deal with this.
So I'd decided to share my experience when dealing with Schengen visa application for student from Malaysia in particular.

Since we don't have the Embassy of Portugal in Malaysia,
firstly I would suggest you to contact the Honorary Consul of Portugal in Malaysia and express your interest to apply for a Student visa.
You may call the office at 03-2694 7335 or just drop an email to consportugal@gmail.com.

Then you will receive an email about what documents are needed in order to apply for a Schengen visa as a student. The documents you need to provide are:

1.                   Letter of Good Conduct
You may apply online at http://www.kln.gov.my/web/guest/online.
Prior filling in the online form, you may prepare a soft copy of your passport-size photograph to be uploaded in the system.
For more information, you may read the user guide here.

After you finish with the online form, you need to print them out in 2 copies and prepare some documents to proceed:
2 copies of passport-size photograph;
2 certified copies of your passport (front page; final page with your signature);
2 certified copies of your MyKad;
2 declaration letter of your good conduct signed by Commissioner of Oaths (you may come to 'Mahkamah Rendah Sivil' to settle this).

You may proceed by sending these documents together with Postal Order or Bank Draft worth RM 20 made payable to Akauntan Negara Malaysia and self-address envelope in size A4
by using any courier service to:
Consular Division,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia,
No. 1, Jalan Wisma Putra,
Precint 2,
Federal Government Administrative Centre,
62602 Putrajaya,
Malaysia.

But personally I would recommend you to send them by yourself at the office of consular division and you can get your Letter of Good Conduct on the same day within minutes.
                                     
2.       Visa Application Form + Petition
After you contact the Honorary Consul office, they will send you a list of documents needed and also a soft copy of visa application form in pdf format and petition in MS Word. You can type-in your details in the visa application form using any pdf editor (I used Nitro Reader). Don't forget to print them out after you finish filling in the forms.
You may also write me an email to me and ask for the soft copies of these documents ;)

3.       Passport
Make sure that your passport will still be valid 3 months beyond the completion of your study.
4.       Photocopy of your Passport
The pages you need to make a copy are:
front page (the one with your details);
any pages showing previous granted Schengen visa (if any).
No need to certify them.

5.       2 passport-size photographs
Your picture must be no more than 6 months old and the size should be 3.5cm x 4.5cm.

6.       Proof of scholarship received (for sponsored student)
You may request for financial affidavit or statement from your sponsor. Kindly inform them about your study plan and your visa application that need a financial proof of your scholarship. Keep contacting your scholarship officers and help them by providing the information needed for their paperwork (if any) to issue this document for you.

7.       Airplane reservation
I booked my air tickets with a travel agent (I can easily change my departure date by contacting them in case I get my visa late). You can also buy the tickets online. As far as I know, airlines with connected flights from Kuala Lumpur to Lisbon are just two: Emirates and  KLM.

8.       Medical insurance
It is compulsory for every non-European tourist or students to have a medical insurance that covers their travel abroad. You can survey any products or plans made for students going abroad. I bought a plan called Travel Guard: Student Assist from Chartis Insurance. You may bear in mind that for the insurance plan you're going to subscribe, the sum insured must be more than 30,000 Euros which is around RM 120,000.

9.       Letter from current university (for research attachment student)
For those who are students in local university and plan to go to Portugal for research attachment, you may ask from your faculty (undergraduate student) or School of Graduate Studies (postgraduate student) to issue a verification letter (with institution letterhead) to the Embassy of Portugal that telling you are currently and officially a student of the institution.

10.   Invitation letter from host institution (for research attachment student)
I believe for those who plan to do research attachment, you must already contact your future supervisor. You may ask him/her to issue an invitation letter (with institution letterhead) stating specifically the responsibility of the him/her in Schengen territory and his/her responsibility in making sure that you will obey by the terms and conditions of the delivered Schengen visa, as well for your return to Malaysia. I know professors are extremely busy people and asking them to write a letter could add in more burden on their shoulders. So, I would suggest you to draft an  invitation letter for your supervisor. Making things easier for your supervisor is a way to a healthy relationship between you and your supervisor.

11.   Identification document of the host (for research attachment student)
Politely, make a request to your supervisor to provide you with him/her photocopy of passport, Portuguese ID card and bank statement. You may have to tell them that these documents are needed for the purpose of visa application to avoid any misunderstood. I believe he/she will be more than happy to help you out.


 After all the documents are ready, you have to call the office of Honorary Consul of Portugal and make an appointment to submit your complete visa application. While submitting your application, you will need to pay some fees since the office need to cover expenses in order to forward your application to the Embassy of Portugal in Bangkok. From my personal experience, you might need to arrange a day to really work on the documents needed. I started my day with a visit to Putrajaya for Letter of Good Conduct, then to Wisma Chartis to buy insurance. After that I went to my sponsorship office to meet with my scholarship officer and discuss about financial affidavit. In the evening, I went to a travel agent office and booked my flight tickets and secure a copy of flight itinerary.

I would like to thank my friend till Jannah insha Allah, Siti Nor Atika Baharin for helping me out.
Thank you so much Atiq. I know just saying thank you is not enough. I also know that I won't be able to repay your helps and kindness. May happiness be with you here and the world after my friend :)

I am still waiting for my visa and hopefully everything will be alright.
Can't wait to learn new things in Coimbra !
May Allah ease my journey and gives the best for me and my Iman :)

9 comments:

  1. giteww~ wawi, semoga semua ursan kamu berjalan dgn lancar, aminnn

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  2. amin ~ insha Allah.
    mami, bile kite nak pegi terjah Zaty Atie ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. alhamdulillah.. U know what wawi, I really proud of u! Really!I pray to Allah, may him bless u! and may u stay "cool:humble" whoever u are.
    I'm gonna miss u dear! 9 months??? It's a long time dear! arghhhh... :P.. haaha.. n i pray may u find ur "soulmate" there! i have an instinct that ur soulmate are not malaysian! errrgghh! wow! hahaha.. please dun trust me! :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. alhamdulillah finally I found a place for my attachment.
    thank you for your support sha and telling me not to give up.
    definitely gonna miss you there.
    hope we can keep skype-ing each other in the 9 months period :)

    frankly I just come to learn and gain some experiences.
    but if He has arranged I'll meet my soul mate there, I'll be more than happy :P

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ameen. Im quite enlightened by your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
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