Checklist: Applying for a Schengen visa in the Philippines as a seafarer
Find out what documents you need in order to apply for a Schengen visa in the Philippines as a seafarer.
Important to know
- Arrive at your appointment well prepared. Find out how to apply for a Schengen visa in the Philippines.
- In most cases you must submit your application in person. This applies to babies and children too.
- If you have had your fingerprints taken for a Schengen visa in the past 5 years (59 months), someone else may submit your application for you. However, if your fingerprints were taken but not saved, you will need to appear in person to have them retaken.
- The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs may request an interview or additional documents.
- You must sign a document at the appointment, declaring the following:
- you understand that you must submit all documents in order for your application to be processed
- you are aware that an incomplete application may be rejected and that your visa application fee will not be refunded
Personal documents
Bring: original document
You will need a completed and signed Schengen visa application form. Print the form and submit it with your other documents.
Complete your own application form online. Only then will you receive a form with a unique code. Forms without this code may cause issues while processing your application. For that reason, do not use someone else’s form.
Bring: original document
You will need a valid travel document, such as a passport. Your travel document must meet the following requirements:
- it is no more than 10 years old
- it must have at least 2 empty visa pages
- it must be valid for at least 3 months after you leave the Schengen area
- it must bear your signature
Bring: original document
You will need to submit a photo that meets Dutch requirements:
- colour photo
- no more than 6 months old
- 3.5cm by 4.5cm
- white or light-coloured background
Find out where you can have a photo that meets Dutch requirements taken in the Philippines
If you are applying for a visa through an external service provider, you do not need to submit a photo. A digital photo will be taken at your appointment.
Bring: colour copy of the document
Are you not a Filipino national? You must prove that you are legally residing in the Philippines with an Alien Certificate Registration (ACR). The ACR must be valid for at least 3 months after you leave the Schengen area.
If you are not a resident of the country where you are submitting your application, you must show why you cannot apply in your country of residence.
Bring: colour copy of the document
You will need an employment contract from your employer. You will also how to show a POEA contract stating that you are allowed to board the ship.
Bring: original document and colour copy
Your seafarer’s record book, if you have one.
Documents relating to your travel and stay in the Schengen area
Bring: colour copy of the document
You will need a signed and stamped invitation from a shipping company in the Netherlands stating:
- your personal details
- your date and place of birth
- your passport details
- your seafarer’s record book with date of issue and period of validity, if you have one
- the date of issue and validity of the invitation
- your position or rank as seafarer on the ship
- the airport where you will enter the Schengen area with the date
- the name of the ship
- the place where you will board the ship
- the validity period of your contract
- the travel route you will take to get to the Netherlands
- the name and address of the shipping company in the Philippines that will transport you to the ship in the Netherlands and that will help you with your visa application
If a shipping company from the Philippines is submitting the visa application for you, you will need an invitation from this shipping company. It must state all the information above with a stamp from the local Philippine port authority. And a list of all seafarers with their position on the ship.