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A summer in Europe—the theme for countless romcoms—has a permanent fix in the Indian tourist’s travel bucket list. With the new Schengen visa rules, a visit to the West (or more specifically, 29 countries in the West) just became more hassle-free.
The European Union recently introduced a new “Cascade regime”, under which Indians can obtain a two-year multi-entry Schengen visa. What’s more, a two-year visa can be followed by a five-year visa. Not only will this help streamline the entire Schengen visa process—which until this moment has been quite a tedious affair—it will also increase outbound travel from India to select European nations, thereby boosting sales for airlines and travel agencies.
However, the new rules come with a list of caveats. And despite the revamped structure allowing greater access to Indian tourists, the visa processing time and fees remain a challenge. So, before you start dreaming up your next European adventure, take a look over at the technicalities first and then start planning ahead.
Schengen visa new rules, processing time, qualifications & everything else you need to know to plan your holiday in Europe
Going by the new rules, Indians can now apply for a Schengen visa which has a validity of two years—a significant improvement from the shorter validity periods that were previously available. However, to qualify for this extended two-year visa, Indian tourists should have obtained and judiciously utilised two Schengen visas in the preceding three years.
Once this two-year visa is utilised, these applicants can then be considered eligible for a five-year Schengen visa, as long as their passports maintain sufficient validity.
According to VFS Global, applications by Indian tourists for the Schengen visa usually take about 15 days to process, but this can extend up to 30 days during busy periods.
The Schengen visa fee is approximately Rs 7,200 for adults and Rs 3,600 for minors.
The Schengen visa holder can stay in the concerned country for a maximum period of 90 days in any 180-day period. While the visa is not purpose-bound, it does not grant the right to work.
The Schengen area consists of 29 European countries (out of which 25 are EU states). These include Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
