Schengen visa rules have recently been changed and all 26 member states have confirmed to implement those from the first Monday of 2020.
“The new Schengen visa changes related to the new visa code were approved by the EU council on the 6th of June 2019, for tourism in Schengen Area, business, trading by collaboration with the security inside”.
New Schengen visa changes include many important points. The Code is also known as Regulation (EC) No 810/2009.
New changes include:
- Schengen visa fees to increase from €60 to €80.
- The visa fee for the children aged 6 to 12 will have to pay €40 instead of €35. No fees will be charged for the children under 6 years of age.
- Instead of 3 months, the candidates will able to apply for a Schengen visa in 6 months in advance. The seafarers can apply for this kind of visa 9 months before their trip.
- Submission of visa application through the electronic visa application form.
- Representative authorities of every Schengen Member must be present in every third-country in terms of visa admission after February 2.
- Frequent travelers with a positive visa history to benefit from visas with lengthier validity.
Nationals of almost 104 countries require a visa to travel to 26 Schengen countries.
1- Better chances and conditions for legal travelers
There have been introduced changes to improve better conditions for regular and legal travelers with the following improvements:
- Once a candidate wants to apply for a Schengen visa, he/she can apply for the visa up to 6 months and no later than 15 days before the start of the journey
- The application form can be completed and signed electronically.
- Conditions will be more easy for those who are regular travelers and want to apply for multiple visas. A harmonized approach to the issuing of multiple-entry visas for regular travelers with a positive visa history is introduced, with a progressive increase in validity ranging from 1 to 5 years.
2- Increase in Visa Application Fees
The visa application fees will be 80 euros instead of 60 euros. This has been decided so that the member states can easily cover process costs etc. And further in the future, after the time of every three years, the visa fees will be revised.
3- Better cooperation on readmission of irregular migrants
The EU has decided to take serious steps towards third countries that do not cooperate towards illegal admission of its nationals into EU member states. There are a lot of countries whose nationals enter EU illegally and then apply for Asylum. And even after having the asylum application rejected by the member state, they can’t be deported because they hide their identities and their embassies do not cooperate in order to deport them from EU countries. In simple words, for example, many countries of Africa, Pakistan, India, Syria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Iraq could be badly hit for its new visa applicants if the governments do not cooperate with EU member states to decrease the rate of illegal immigrants from their countries. The mechanism will be based on the fact that the Commission will regularly access third countries’ cooperation on readmission. This will be done on the basis points:
- Where a country is not cooperating, the Commission will propose that the Council adopt an implementing decision applying specific restrictive visa measures related to visa processing and, eventually, visa fee (this will surely decrease visa ratio and strict policies of visa issuance).
- If the third country does cooperate on readmission, the Commission may propose to the Council to adopt an implementing decision providing for a reduction in visa fees, a reduction in the time to decide on visa applications or an increase in the period of validity of multiple entry visas. The implementing decision will be valid for no more than one year and can be renewed (this will surely result in more visa ratio and stream-lined visa system).
Visa options for Schengen Countries
How to get Hungary’s visit/tourist visa in €80? Easy steps and requirements?
How to Apply for Iceland Visit Visa?