SCHENGEN VISA INFO

Schengen Visa Information

Schengen visa is the document issued by the appropriate authorities to the interested party for visiting/travelling in and within the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area is comprised of 26 countries that have agreed to allow free movement of their citizens within this area as a single country. Of the 26 countries bound by the Schengen agreement, 22 are part of the EU and the other 4 are part of the EFTA.

Schengen area covers the majority of European countries, except for the United Kingdom and countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland soon to be part of the agreement. However, there are countries that are not part of the EU like Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein yet do belong in the Schengen area and cherish the free movement policy.

The Schengen Member States

Austria / Belgium / Czech republic / Denmark / Estonia / Finland / France / Germany / Greece / Hungary / Iceland / Italy / Latvia / Lithuania / Luxembourg / Malta / Netherlands / Norway / Poland / Portugal / Slovakia / Slovenia / Spain / Sweden / Switzerland / Liechtenstein

Schengen Visa Countries List

The Schengen Visa is the representative of the collective of 26 European countries that have mutually decided to eliminate passport and immigration controls at their joint borders. Within the Schengen area, concurrently, the citizens of these 26 European countries are free to travel in and out of this zone as one single country sharing equal international travel rights. The citizens of the Schengen zone countries cherish the right to migrate internationally without any limitations, the basis of free movement, one of the basic human rights.

As an agreement, Schengen was signed among the five out of ten countries of the European Union members back then, on the 14th June 1985. However it was hardly possible to reach a compromise among all the members of the European member states into eliminating the border controls, therefore Schengen was established outside the European community at first. After five years of struggle, the Schengen Convention was added to the establishment proposing the abolition of internal borders and a mutual visa policy. The consensus revealed new rules entirely opposed to the ones within the EU community therefore the aftermath, the creation of the Schengen Area started from scratch on the 26th march 1995.  The name came from a small village in Luxembourg, Schengen where the agreement was initially signed. As the number of countries entering the Schengen area was ever growing, with states signing up to join the Schengen area even to this day, the Agreement and the relating conventions got integrated into the European Union Law, effective immediately in 1999.  The downside of the Schengen agreement and its relating conventions is that with alleviating the bureaucracy among the Schengen zone countries it consequently reinforced the external border control with the non-European countries as well as the fact that not being a part of the agreement meant not having a say in any amendment or regulation within the European Law.

Under the Schengen agreement, travelling from one Schengen country to another is done without any passport and immigration controls or any other formalities previously required. However, the Schengen Area and the European Union are two completely different zones that shall not be misinterpreted.

Schengen Area is comprised of twenty-two European Union member states as well as four European Free Trade Association member states (EFTA is an association of ten Fair Trade importers in nine European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). EFTA was established informally in 1987 by some of the oldest and largest Fair Trade importers. It gained formal status in 1990. EFTA is based in the Netherlands and has Dutch Articles of Association.)

Member states of the EU:

Austria (1995) / Belgium (1952) / Bulgaria (2007) / Croatia (2013) / Cyprus (2004) / Czech Republic (2004) / Denmark (1973) / Estonia (2004) / Finland (1995) / France (1952) / Germany (1952) / Greece (1981) / Hungary (2004) / Ireland (1973) / Italy (1952) / Latvia (2004) / Lithuania (2004) / Luxembourg (1952) / Malta (2004) / Netherlands (1952) / Poland (2004) / Portugal (1986) / Romania (2007) / Slovakia (2004) / Slovenia (2004) / Spain (1986) / Sweden (1995) / United Kingdom (1973)

On the road to EU membership / Candidate countries

Iceland / Montenegro / Serbia / The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia / Turkey / Albania 

Potential candidates

Bosnia and Herzegovina / Kosovo

There are six European Union member states that are not part of the Schengen area as well as state territories that are also not part of the Schengen agreement. Out of the six Schengen nonmember states, four of them are soon joining the Schengen area as is Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania while the other two, Ireland and the United Kingdom remain opt-out (In general, the law of the European Union is valid in all of the twenty-eight European Union member states. However, occasionally member states negotiate certain opt-outs from legislation or treaties of the European Union, meaning they do not have to participate in certain policy areas.) Apart from the aforementioned states as a whole, there are certain territories within EU states that also not part of the Schengen area, including: French territories of French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin.

On the other hand, there are four nonmembers of the EU yet members of the EFTA that are part of the Schengen Area together with the other twenty-two EU member states as follows: Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. Although they are not EU members, the citizens of these EFTA countries cherish the free movement policy irrespective of their nationality.

Although somewhere between a state and a city, these European microstates as San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican also abolished the border control and embraced the free movement among the Schengen Zone Countries, a position referred to as de facto (in practice but not necessarily ordained by law) under the Schengen Agreement.

Attention! Although most of the Schengen countries are in the European Union, you should not confuse the Schengen area with the EU.

Who needs a Schengen visa?

The citizens of the non-Schengen member countries are requested a mandatory Schengen Visa in order to enter the Schengen Zone. There are exceptions to this rule, however: for some countries that are not part of the Schengen Agreement yet aren’t required a visa to enter the Schengen zone.

Visa Application Requirements

In order to travel to one or more of the Schengen Zone countries, as aforementioned, one needs to apply for a Schengen visa at the designated embassy/consulate. There are however, certain requirements similar to every embassy/consulate that have to be met in order to pursuit the application. A unified exemplar of the requested documents with the additional information is meticulously described and listed at Schengen Visa Application Requirements section.

Types of Schengen Visa

Regarding the nature/purpose of the travel, there are several types of a Schengen visa issued by the designated embassy/consulate.

1. Uniform Schengen Visas (USV)

The Uniform Schengen Visa stands for a permit of one of the Schengen Area Member Countries to transit or reside in the desired territory for a certain period of time up to the maximum of 90 days every six month period starting from the date of entry. According to the purpose of traveling the Uniform Schengen Visa applies to all of the three categories, “A”, “B” and “C”.

2. Limited territorial validity visas (LTV)

This type of visa obtained allows you to travel only in the Schengen State that has issued the visa or in some other cases, in the certain Schengen States specifically mentioned when applying for the visa. Apart from these Schengen countries, this specific visa is invalid to any other Schengen country not specified prior.

3. National Visas

The national visa of “D” category is granted to the certain individuals who are to be studying, working or permanently residing in one of the Schengen countries. The national visa can be of a single entry, granted for the people who are in need of residing in the Schengen country for a certain period of time, or for a sole purpose after which they shall return to their country.

Schengen Visa Fee

When applying for a Schengen visa there is a non-refundable mandatory visa fee every applicant must pay. The visa costs vary depending on the type of visa and age of the applicant as well as some other exceptions stated in the text.

The regular fee (in Euro):

Airport transit visa                                –   60.00 EUR

Short stay visa, less than 90 days          –   60.00 EUR

Long stay visa, more than 90 days        –   99.00 EUR

Read more information about Schengen Visa Fee!