Visa policy

A single area for travel cannot function efficiently without a uniform visa policy: in 2007 alone, the present 25 Schengen States issued around 13 million visas. This requires good administrative cooperation and a single set of rules. For that reason, when the Schengen area was established, a uniform Schengen visa was introduced.

"This page of the Sub-section 'Visa policy' gives a general presentation in two parts: Part I covers the latest developments which occurred within the recent years. Part II provides an overview of the related acquis and general background.”

I) Latest developments

With the most recent Schengen enlargements, nine EU Member States (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the associated country Switzerland joined the Schengen area and are now issuing Schengen visas (which are issued only for stays not exceeding three months within a six-month period). All Schengen countries apply the same requirements and procedures for issuing Schengen visas. Applications for a Schengen visa should be submitted to the consulate of the Schengen State which is the applicant’s main destination (or to the consulate representing that country in the third country concerned). If it is impossible to identify which country is the main destination, the application should be submitted to the State of first entry into the Schengen area.

The national short-stay visas issued by the new Schengen States prior to enlargement of the Schengen area remain valid only for the territory of the issuing State and only during their period of validity.

The administrative fee for processing a visa application is €60. For the countries with which the EU has concluded visa facilitation agreements, the cost is generally €35.

The Community Code on Visas [1.5 MB] was adopted on 13 July 2009. It will become applicable from 5 April 2010. The "Visa Code" covers the procedures and conditions for issuing short-stay visas and airport transit visas and will repeal the Common Consular Instructions and a number of other Schengen-related decisions

The European Commission is currently working on setting up the Visa Information System [157 KB] (VIS) that will allow the Schengen Member States to exchange data on short-stay and transit visas. The VIS will be connected to the national systems of the Member States. Once operational, it will process information on visa applications (including applicants’ photographs and fingerprints) and on the related decisions (in particular, whether to issue or refuse or to annul, revoke or extend a visa). The VIS will facilitate the visa application procedure, assist in the fight against fraud, prevent “visa shopping” and facilitate checks at the EU’s external borders and within the Member States. It will also help to identify visa applicants and visa holders and to determine which Member State is responsible for examining any given visa application. It will make examination of asylum applications more efficient and help to prevent threats to the internal security of Member States.

The European Commission is continuing its efforts to achieve full visa reciprocity with third countries so that all EU nationals are treated equally with regard to visa requirements when travelling to third countries with visa-free arrangements with the Schengen area. The fifth report [61 KB] on visa reciprocity and the ad-hoc Canada-Czech Republic visa reciprocity report [46 KB] were published in October 2009.

The Hague Programme [273 KB] gave the Commission a mandate to submit a proposal on the creation of common visa offices in the future. The introduction of biometric identifiers to visa applications and the future VIS will create a need for additional technical and human resources. As an alternative to buying equipment for collecting biometric identifiers individually, the Commission proposed that Member States could establish Common Visa Application Centres (where consular staff of two or more countries would be pooled in the same building in order to receive visa applications) or cooperate with external service providers to collect visa applications. The proposal is currently being debated in the European Parliament and the Council. As a pilot project, one Common Visa Application Centre started its activities in Chisinau ( Moldova) in 2007.

II) General context

The harmonised conditions and criteria for issuing “uniform short-stay visas” are laid down in Articles 9 to 17 of the Schengen Convention and defined in further detail in the Common Consular Instructions (CCI). They apply to the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Schengen countries. They establish which diplomatic representation is responsible for issuing visas and describe the procedure to be followed.

Usually, a short-term visa issued by one of the Schengen States is valid for the entire Schengen area. (Note that the United Kingdom and Ireland maintain autonomous visa, immigration and asylum policies which means that they do not issue Schengen visas and that Schengen visas are not valid for entry into their territories; all the other EU Member States, except Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania, issue Schengen visas as do Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.)

Schengen visas are issued only for stay(s) that do not exceed three months within a six-month period. Visas for visits exceeding that period remain subject to national procedures and authorise the holder to stay on the national territory of the host Member State only. However, such visas entitle their holders to transit through Schengen territory on their way to the issuing Schengen State (subject to the usual conditions for entry into the Schengen area). In addition, such visas are (under certain conditions) valid as uniform short-stay visas for a period of not more than three months from their initial date of validity.

Types of visas issued:

A: airport transit visa
B: transit visa
C: short-stay visa
D: long-stay NATIONAL visa
D+C: NATIONAL long-stay visa valid concurrently as a short-stay visa
VTL¹: visa with limited territorial validity
ADS²: visas issued for members of tourist groups from the People’s Republic of China

Schengen is a single travel area: Member States have chosen to have a single list of countries that are subject to a visa requirement plus a list of countries for which this requirement is waived (Council Regulation No 539/2001 and its subsequent amendments). It is therefore logical that, in the spirit of solidarity, the EU also seeks that third countries treat all Member States in the same way. For this reason, a visa reciprocity mechanism has been set up (Council Regulation No 539/2001, as amended by Council Regulation 851/2005). If a country that benefits from the visa-free arrangements introduces a visa system for an EU Member State, the Member State concerned notifies the Commission which publishes the notification in the Official Journal of the European Union and takes steps with the authorities of the third country to restore visa-free travel. After the notification has been published, the Commission reports to the Council. The Commission can also propose to the Council to restore the visa requirement for nationals of the third country in question.

In the absence of visa waiver reciprocity vis-à-vis any third country, the Commission regularly submits a report on the non-reciprocity. So far, four such reports have been published (they are available in the documentation centre).

With certain third countries, the European Community has concluded visa facilitation agreements (available in the documentation centre). They come as a package together with readmission agreements and create reciprocal duties and obligations for both sides: both EU and third-country citizens benefit from facilitated procedures for issuing visas (which may include lower visa fees) and both sides agree on relevant readmission procedures (return of their own and third-country nationals/stateless persons). By January 2008 such agreements had been concluded with the Russian Federation (entered into force on 1 June 2007), Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania.

EU legislation provides for a series of other facilitations. The Member States can negotiate agreements on local border traffic with third countries to enable residents of the border area of the third country to stay in the border area on the EU side under certain conditions without being required to obtain an ordinary Schengen visa (see section on borders for details).

Certain Member States may choose to apply the Facilitated Transit Document/Facilitated Railway Transit Document Regulation. It is intended only for third-country nationals who must necessarily cross one or more Member States in order to travel between two parts of their own country which are not geographically contiguous. For the time being, it is applied by Lithuania to enable nationals of the Russian Federation to travel between the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation and mainland Russia.

¹The Schengen Convention stipulates that an alien who does not fulfil all the conditions for entry into the Schengen area must be refused entry, unless an issuing State considers it necessary to derogate from this principle on humanitarian grounds, on grounds of national interest or because of international obligations (Article 5(2) of the Schengen Convention). In such cases authorisation to enter is restricted to the territory of the issuing State and a VTL visa is issued.

² The Memorandum of Understanding between the European Community and the National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic of China on visa and related issues concerning tourist groups from the People’s Republic of China (ADS) (Official Journal of the European Union L 83, 20.3.2004, p. 14) stipulates that designated travel agencies in China can act as authorised representatives of visa applicants from the People’s Republic of China who are travelling in a group. Such groups may be issued a Schengen visa, limited to a maximum of 30 days and bearing the reference “ADS”.