Schengen Visa News

Travelers in need of a Schengen Visa will have to apply for one according to the new rules, introduced by the updated Schengen Visa Code, as of Sunday, February 2, 2020. The new rules on short-stay visas will apply worldwide as of Sunday, to the nationals of 105 non-EU countries or entities that are required to have a visa to travel to Europe for tourism, trade, and business. The rules have been changed in a bid to [...]

The European Union has made another move to show that it does not intend to support Crimea’s annexation by Russia, and the Donbass armed conflict. In its most recent move, the EU has decided to no longer grant Schengen visas to residents of the Crimean peninsula and the region of Donbass with passports issued by the Russian Federation after March 2014. The new measure was announced by the Ambassador of the European Union to the Russian Federation, [...]

The consulates of the common travel area of Schengen located abroad have received over 16 million Schengen visa applications for the second year in a row. Despite that there was a decrease of under 1%, compared to 2017, this is the second highest number of applications that the Schengen consulates have received in the recent years. 16,007,785 applications for a Schengen visa were lodged in 2018, 9.6% of which were turned down. This is the highest rate [...]

Third country nationals will soon need to pay a higher fee when applying for a Schengen Visa to the EU countries. The European Parliament and Council have voted pro a new EU Visa Code, which among others increases the fee for a Schengen visa application from €80 to €80. According to a press release of the European Parliament, the Parliament and Council negotiators supported the proposed changes, and now the new code will be passed to the [...]

The European Parliament members have given the green light for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen Zone, in a plenary session on December 11. With a majority of votes, the EP members approved a call for the swift admission of both EU countries into the borderless EU area. According to a press release of the European Parliament, the MEPs called on the EU Council to take a swift and affirmative decision, adopting the non-legislative [...]

The European Parliament has given the green light to Kosovo visa liberalization, by approving the opening of visa talks. With 420 votes pro, 186 against, and 20 abstentions, now the proposal for the amendment of the regulation to move Kosovo under the Annex of visa free entities, moves to the Council of Ministers for adaption. If the EU Council adapts the change of the regulation by a qualified majority, Kosovo citizens may be able to travel visa-free [...]