Applying for a Schengen visa, step by step

You apply to the consulate of the Schengen country where you will spend the most days. You apply no earlier than six months before you travel and, as a rule, no later than 15 days before. The fee is €90 for an adult. If the consulate uses an outside centre such as VFS or TLS, that centre’s service charge is added on top.

Everything below is taken from the EU Visa Code, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, and the European Commission’s own pages, read on 30 September 2026. Where a member state does something its own way, its consulate’s website decides. We link to the law so you can check us.

Step 1: work out which country you apply to

One Schengen visa covers all 29 countries. You still have to apply to the right one. If you apply to the wrong one, the Visa Code, Article 18, says the consulate must hand back your documents, refund the visa fee and tell you which consulate is competent. You lose time, not money, though a provider’s service charge is a separate matter.

Article 5 of the Visa Code sets the order:

1. One destination. You apply to that country.
2. Several destinations. You apply to your “main destination”, judged by “the length of stay, counted in days, or the purpose of stay.” The same applies if you make several separate visits within two months.
3. No main destination. If you cannot say which is the main one, you apply to the country whose external border you will cross first to enter the area.

The Commission’s applying page puts the common case simply: apply where “you will spend the longest time”, and if the stays are equal, “at the consulate of the first country you will visit.”

An example. Six days in Paris and four in Amsterdam: apply to France. Five and five, flying into Amsterdam: apply to the Netherlands. Where the days are close but the reason for the trip is plainly in one country, the law lets purpose decide. If in doubt, ask that consulate before you book an appointment.

Step 2: work out where you actually hand it in

You apply at the consulate of that country, normally the one covering the place you legally live. Many consulates do not take applications over the counter. They contract an external service provider, usually VFS Global or TLScontact, to take your forms, fingerprints and payment.

The provider takes your application. It does not decide it. Only the consulate can.

The provider’s service charge is separate from the visa fee, and the Visa Code limits it:

Situation	Maximum service fee (Visa Code, Article 17)
Normal case	Half the standard visa fee, so €45
The country has no consulate there and is not represented by another	€80, in principle
Exceptional cases, notified to the Commission	Up to €120

The cap applies “irrespective of” any reduction or waiver of your visa fee. So a child’s application attracts the same service charge as an adult’s.

Anything else the centre sells you is optional. The Visa Code requires the provider to tell the public that other charges are for optional services. You do not have to buy any of them for your application to be accepted.

A country that uses a provider may keep direct applications at the consulate open to everyone, but the Visa Code says “may”, not “must”. Check the consulate’s own site.

Step 3: apply at the right time

The Visa Code, Article 9, sets the window:

• Earliest: six months before the start of the trip. Seafarers travelling for work can apply up to nine months ahead.
• Latest: “as a rule, no later than 15 calendar days before the start of the intended visit.” Consulates can accept later applications in justified urgent cases.

Where you need an appointment, it “shall, as a rule, take place within a period of two weeks” of your asking for it. In busy seasons that is not always what happens. Book as soon as you are inside the six-month window.

Step 4: pay the fee

These are the figures in the Visa Code and on the Commission’s applying page, read on 30 September 2026.

Applicant	Fee
Adult	€90
Child aged 6 to 11	€45
Child under 6	Free
Nationals of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus	€35
Nationals of Cabo Verde	€67.50

The €90 and €45 have applied since 11 June 2024, when the Commission raised them from €80 and €40. The reduced rates come from visa facilitation agreements between the EU and those countries. The Commission’s announcement at the time said the €35 rate was unchanged and the Cabo Verde rate rose from €60 to €67.50.

Some applicants pay nothing. The Visa Code, Article 16, waives the fee for school pupils, students and accompanying teachers travelling for study, researchers travelling for research, and non-profit representatives aged 25 or under going to certain events. Consulates may also waive it for children aged 6 to 17, diplomatic and service passport holders, and in individual cases.

Two more rules worth knowing:

• The fee is normally not refundable, including when the visa is refused.
• The Visa Code allows a higher fee, €135 or €180, for nationals of a country the Council has found is not cooperating on readmission. That rate does not apply to children under 12. We have not found a published list of countries it currently applies to, so check your consulate’s page.

The fee can be charged in local currency at the European Central Bank reference rate, so the figure at the counter may not be a round number.

Step 5: gather the documents

The Commission lists the core documents. The Visa Code sets the detail.

• Passport. Valid for at least three months after you plan to leave the Schengen area, with at least two blank pages, and issued within the last ten years (Article 12). A ten-year-old passport that is still in date can fail this test.
• Application form, completed and signed.
• A photograph meeting the ICAO standard.
• Travel medical insurance (below).
• Supporting documents on the purpose of the trip, where you will stay, your means of paying for it, and your intention to return.
• Fingerprints. All ten, taken in person the first time you apply. If yours went into the Visa Information System less than 59 months ago, they are copied across and you need not give them again. Children under 12 are exempt.

Consulates publish their own lists of supporting documents, which differ by country and by where you apply. Follow the list for the consulate you are applying to, not a generic one.

The insurance rule

Travel medical insurance is a condition of the visa, not an extra. The Visa Code, Article 15, requires cover for “repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention and/or emergency hospital treatment or death.”

• Minimum cover: €30,000.
• It must be valid across the whole Schengen area and for the entire stay.
• For a multiple-entry visa, you need cover for the first trip and must sign a statement that you know you need it for later ones.

Failing to prove insurance is a listed ground for refusal.

Step 6: wait for the decision

The Visa Code, Article 23, says applications “shall be decided on within 15 calendar days” of the date an admissible application is lodged. That can be extended “up to a maximum of 45 calendar days in individual cases, notably when further scrutiny of the application is needed.”

So 15 days is the norm, and 45 days is the legal ceiling. Neither counts from the date you booked your appointment. The clock starts when the application is lodged.

How multi-year visas are earned: the cascade

Since the Visa Code changes that took effect on 2 February 2020, multiple-entry visas follow a ladder, set out in Article 24(2). If you meet the entry conditions and your passport lasts long enough:

You have	You should be issued
Obtained and lawfully used three visas within the previous two years	A multiple-entry visa valid for 1 year
Obtained and lawfully used a 1-year multiple-entry visa within the previous two years	2 years
Obtained and lawfully used a 2-year multiple-entry visa within the previous three years	5 years

Airport transit visas and visas with limited territorial validity do not count towards it. A consulate can shorten the validity where there is reasonable doubt that you will meet the conditions for the whole period. And the visa can never outlast your passport.

The Commission can adopt different, more generous or stricter, cascades for particular countries. One example we have read from an official page: on 18 April 2024 the Commission set rules for Indian nationals living in India under which a two-year visa can be issued after two visas obtained and lawfully used in the previous three years, normally followed by a five-year visa. If you hold an Indian passport, that is the ladder that applies to you when you apply in India.

A multiple-entry visa does not give you more time. Every stay still counts towards 90 days in any 180. Our guide to the 90/180-day rule shows how.

If you are refused

A refusal is not just a “no”. The Visa Code, Article 32, says the decision and its reasons must be given to you on a standard form, set out in Annex VI, in the language of the deciding country and one other official EU language.

That form must:

• tick the reason or reasons from a fixed list, such as no proof of sufficient funds, doubts about your intention to leave, or no valid insurance;
• tell you that you may appeal;
• name the national law that governs the appeal;
• give the authority you appeal to, with contact details;
• give the time limit for appealing.

You appeal against the country that took the decision, under its own law. Time limits and procedures differ from country to country, which is why the form must state them. Read it the day it arrives.

The Visa Code also requires the refusal to be entered in the Visa Information System, the shared EU visa database. If you reapply, deal with the reason that was ticked.

Is it online yet?

Not as a single EU system. The EU has adopted a law, Regulation (EU) 2023/2667, to move Schengen visa applications onto one EU online platform and replace the sticker with a digital visa. The Commission’s visa policy page says applicants will “carry out all steps in the process on the platform, except for providing biometrics (when required).”

The platform does not have a published start date on any official page we read. The regulation leaves the date to a Commission decision, and the European Parliament’s summary says a member state may choose not to use the platform “for a period of up to 7 years from the launch date.” The Commission’s visa strategy of 29 January 2026 said only that the reform will be rolled out “in the coming years.”

Until the platform opens, you apply the way each country tells you to: its own online form or the provider’s, then an appointment in person. Where a country already takes forms online, that is its own national system, not the EU platform.

What to check before you book

1. Count your days per country and settle your main destination.
2. Open that country’s consulate page for where you live, and see whether it uses a provider.
3. Diary the window: six months before departure to open, 15 days before as the practical latest. Aim for the start of it.
4. Budget €90, or the reduced rate for your nationality, plus a service charge of up to €45. Decline the extras.
5. Check your passport’s issue date as well as its expiry.
6. Buy insurance of at least €30,000 that names the whole Schengen area and covers repatriation.
7. If you have held Schengen visas before, bring them. They are what moves you up the cascade.

For what the Schengen countries ask of your nationality, start from your passport page, for example Nigeria.