NEW RULES ON SCHENGEN VISA

The Schengen visa is a short term visa that allows third-country nationals to travel to any members of the Schengen Area and to stay there for a period of maximum 90 days for tourism or business purposes. In order to improve conditions for legitimate travellers, the European Council has adopted amendments to the Schengen Visa Code on 6 June 2019.

The new provisions will provide faster and clearer procedures for frequent travellers to the Schengen area by allowing for visa applications to be lodged up to 6 months, and no later than 15 days before the trip to Schengen Area; by providing for the possibility to fill in and sign the application forms electronically and by introducing a harmonised approach to the issuing of multiple entry visas to regular travellers. The new code also increases the price of a short-stay visa from EUR 60 to EUR 80. The new regulation introduces a mechanism to assess every three years the need to revise the amount of the visa fee. The new provisions will enter into force six months after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.