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Schengen visa fee: €90 since June 2024, who pays less, and how the next rise is decided

2 published versions. Every version stays readable at its own address, and nothing is removed without a correction note.

  1. Version 2Current · development

    Adds the rule that The Gambia's visa restrictions do not apply to family members of EU citizens covered by the free movement directive.

    • Confirmed: The Gambia's visa restrictions, in force since a Council decision of 7 October 2021, do not apply to Gambian family members of EU citizens covered by the free movement directive, the same exception as for Somalia and Guinea.
  2. Version 1 · created

    Story created.

    • Timeline added: The Visa Code first set the fee at €60 for adults and €35 for children from six until their 12th birthday when it began to apply on 5 April 2010.
    • Timeline added: The fee had risen from €60 to €80, and from €35 to €40 for children, on 2 February 2020.
    • Timeline added: The fee rose from €80 to €90, and from €40 to €45 for children, under a Commission regulation adopted in March 2024 and published in the Official Journal in May 2024. It took effect on the twentieth day after publication, in June 2024.
    • Confirmed: The Commission raised the fees by one eighth after comparing EU-wide inflation and the weighted average pay of national civil servants between July 2020 and July 2023.
    • Confirmed: The fee had risen from €60 to €80, and from €35 to €40 for children, on 2 February 2020.
    • Confirmed: The Visa Code first set the fee at €60 for adults and €35 for children from six until their 12th birthday when it began to apply on 5 April 2010.
    • Confirmed: A fee of €135 or €180 applies to nationals of a country if the Council decides it is not cooperating enough on readmission. It never applies to children under 12.
    • Confirmed: Some nationalities pay less under EU agreements: €35 for applicants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, and €67.50 for applicants from Cabo Verde, according to the Commission.
    • Confirmed: The fee is waived for school pupils, students and accompanying teachers on study trips, for researchers travelling for research or a scientific conference, and for representatives of non-profit groups aged 25 or under at their events. The fee may also be waived, at the Schengen country's discretion, for children from six until their 18th birthday and holders of diplomatic or service passports. In individual cases it may also be waived or reduced for humanitarian reasons, international obligations, or cultural, sporting, foreign-policy, development-policy or other vital public interests.
    • Confirmed: Visa centres run by outside companies may add a service fee. It may not exceed half the standard visa fee, and that cap stays the same even for applicants who pay a reduced fee or none. In countries where the Schengen state has no consulate, it should in principle stay at or below €80, and up to €120 in exceptional cases.
    • Confirmed: The fee is not refunded if the visa is refused; it is returned only in narrow cases, such as when the consulate is not competent or the application is inadmissible.
    • Confirmed: Apply at least 15 days and no more than six months before the trip. A decision normally takes 15 days and can take up to 45.
    • Confirmed: Since November 2021 the EU has suspended part of its visa facilitation agreement with Belarus for officials: members of Belarus's national or regional government or parliament, its Constitutional and Supreme Courts, and Belarusian official delegations no longer get the agreement's fee waiver. Other Belarusian applicants still pay the €35 agreement fee, according to the Commission.
    • Confirmed: Russian citizens get no reduced fee: the EU suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia in whole from 12 September 2022, so they pay the standard fee.
    • Confirmed: Non-EU family members of an EU citizen who moves to or lives in another EU country get their visa free of charge and through an accelerated procedure, under the EU free movement directive.
    • Confirmed: The higher fee has been used before. From December 2022 nationals of The Gambia had to pay a visa fee of €120, until the Council repealed the measure in April 2024 after cooperation on return flights improved.
    • Confirmed: Nationals of three countries currently face restrictive visa measures for poor cooperation on readmission: The Gambia, under a Council decision of 7 October 2021 that stayed in force when its higher fee was repealed in April 2024; Somalia, under a decision of 25 June 2026; and Guinea, under one of 10 July 2026. For them the standard processing period becomes 45 days instead of 15, multiple-entry visas under the usual rules are suspended, and diplomatic and service passport holders lose the optional fee waiver. None of these decisions sets a higher fee, and they do not apply to family members of EU citizens covered by the free movement directive. Similar measures for Ethiopia, adopted in 2024, were lifted by a Council decision of 18 May 2026.
    • Open question: The Commission plans to propose a new Visa Code (a recast) in the first quarter of 2027. Its call for evidence says it will explore with Member States whether to add a harmonised extra charge at EU level on top of the Schengen visa fee, and that it wants to make the readmission mechanism, which can trigger the higher fee, more flexible. No extra charge has been decided and no amount has been given.
    • Source added: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1415 (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, the Visa Code (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Regulation (EU) 2019/1155 amending the Visa Code (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Applying for a Schengen visa (European Commission (incl. Travel to Europe: ETIAS and EES))
    • Source added: Call for evidence: Revision of the Visa Code (European Commission, Have your say) (European Commission (incl. Travel to Europe: ETIAS and EES))
    • Source added: Council Decision (EU) 2021/1940 on Belarus visa facilitation (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: EU–Belarus visa facilitation agreement (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Decision (EU) 2022/1500 on Russia visa facilitation (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Directive 2004/38/EC on free movement (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2459 on The Gambia (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/1231 on The Gambia (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1781 on The Gambia (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1454 on Somalia (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1733 on Guinea (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)
    • Source added: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1131 on Ethiopia (Official Journal) (Publications Office of the European Union)