The amount required to stay in the Schengen countries

It acts in many ways like a single state with border control on the external border - at the entrance and exit from the zone, but without border control on the internal borders of the states included in this zone.

The Schengen rules imply the elimination border control on internal borders between the states that entered the zone, and at the same time strengthening border control with third states bordering the zone.

Schengen Area

Schengen visa

This is a permit issued by one of the countries for stay in the Schengen countries or transit through their territory for a period not exceeding 90 days within 180 days from the date of entry into the Schengen area.

The Schengen visa is a sticker that is affixed to the passport, travel document or other valid document giving its holder the right to cross the border. The fact of obtaining a Schengen visa does not mean that the right to enter will be granted automatically. Entry will only be allowed if the conditions set out in Schengen agreement, i.e. upon confirmation of the purpose and conditions of the trip and the availability of sufficient funds.

Short stay Schengen visa

A short stay visa is one of the most common types of Schengen visa. It gives the right to a single, double or multiple entry into the territory subject to visa requirements for a period not exceeding three months (90 days) within six months after the date of the first entry into the territory of the Schengen area. A short-stay visa can be single, double or multiple entry. Its term does not exceed five years.

Single entry visa

A single-entry visa gives the right to continuous stay in the territory of countries not exceeding the number specified in visa days during the validity of the visa. The maximum period for which a visa can be issued is 90 days. Usually, a grace period of 15 days is added to the number of days of stay indicated on the visa, in case the visa recipient wishes to delay their departure.

Double entry visa

A double-entry visa gives the right to double entry into the territory of the Schengen countries during the validity of the visa for a total number of days not exceeding that specified in the visa. The maximum total number of days for which a visa can be issued is 90 days.

Multiple entry visa

A multiple-entry visa entitles you to multiple entries into the territory of one or more Schengen member states, provided that the total period of stay does not exceed 90 days within six months from the date of the first entry. The period of stay may be continuous or may include several separate periods during the validity of the visa. The validity of a multiple-entry visa is from six months to five years (for citizens who have submitted sufficient guarantees).

Visa Application Deadlines

An application for a Schengen visa can be submitted no earlier than 3 months before the expected date of travel to the Schengen area. Applicants are strongly advised not to travel before obtaining a visa.

The cost of a Schengen visa

Applicants pay a visa fee of EUR 35 or the equivalent amount in Russian rubles, depending on the rules of a particular consulate.
If the application is submitted three days or less before the required visa decision, the consular fee may be 70 euros or the equivalent in Russian rubles. The visa fee does not depend on the validity period of the visa.

Schengen information

You need to apply for a Schengen visa at the embassy/consulate of the country where you are going for the main purpose. Therefore, before applying, you should decide on your travel plans. If you plan to visit several, you need to apply for a visa at the consulate of the country of the main purpose of the trip or the country in whose territory you will stay the longest. If it is not possible to determine the main purpose of the trip, and the period of stay in two or more Schengen countries is the same, you should apply for a visa at the embassy / consulate of the country of first entry.

Rule 90/180

For Schengen visas, the 90/180 rule applies. This rule implies that the total period of stay should not exceed 90 days 180 days. To calculate the possibility of staying in on any particular day, the period of 180 days preceding the current day must be taken into account.

An electronic calculator is used to calculate the number of days.

USER GUIDE TO THE SCHENGEN SHORT STAY CALCULATOR

From October 18, 2013, when checking the permitted period of stay, the 180-day period preceding the date of the check is calculated. In contrast to the previous principle, the periods are no longer calculated from the date of the first entry into the territory of the state / Schengen area, now the period is flexible and depends on the date of visa verification. If the person has been in the Schengen area during the 180-day retroactive period, the number of days spent is deducted from the number of days allowed on the basis of the visa. Only those days spent in the Schengen area that are included in the 180-day retroactive period count towards the number of days spent. When calculating the duration of stay in the territory of the Schengen States, stays on the basis of a residence permit or a long-term visa are not taken into account. Since the 180-day period no longer depends on the first date of entry into the territory of the State / Schengen area, and the 180-day retroactive period is flexible, therefore, persons traveling on the basis of a visa must carefully ensure that during the 180-day period they are not on territory of the EU Member States longer than the period of stay permitted by the visa.

Explanatory example of calculation of the period of stay permitted on the basis of a multiple short-term visa from 10/18/2013

The person has a multiple-entry visa valid for 11/15/2012-11/15/2013 (1 year).

The permitted length of stay is 90 days within a 180 day period.

Visa holder:

enters the territory of the Schengen area on 20.11.2012 and leaves on 08.01.2013 (50 days)
enters the territory of the Schengen area on 05/01/2013 and leaves on 06/01/2013 (32 days)
enters the territory of the Schengen area on 18.09.2013 and leaves on 19.10.2013 (32 days)

On 10/19/2013, upon departure, the presence of a person in the Schengen area during the 180-day retroactive period preceding the date of verification, that is, from 04/23/2013 to 10/19/2013, is checked. Dates of entry and exit are included in the number of days spent.

The 180-day retroactive period from 04/23/2013 to 10/19/2013 includes stays from 05/01/2013 to 06/01/2013 (32 days) and from 09/18/2013 to 10/19/2013 (32 days), out of the allowed 90 days a person stayed in the Schengen area for 64 days.

Stays from 11/20/2012 to 01/08/2013 do not fall within the 180-day retroactive period, so these days are not taken into account.

Regulation No 610/2013 of 26.06.2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code governing the regime for people crossing borders (Schengen boundary code).

Hotel Map

Exempted from paying the visa fee

close relatives - spouses, children (including adopted), parents (including guardians and trustees), grandparents, grandchildren - citizens Russian Federation legally residing in the territory of the Schengen countries;
members of official delegations who, on the basis of an official invitation, take part in meetings, consultations, negotiations or exchange programs, as well as in events held in one of the countries of the Schengen area by intergovernmental organizations;
members of national and regional governments and parliaments, constitutional and supreme courts;
schoolchildren, students, graduate students and accompanying teachers who are sent for training or internship;
disabled persons and persons who, if necessary, accompany them;
persons who have submitted documents confirming the need for a humanitarian trip, including for obtaining an urgent medical care, and persons accompanying them, as well as for attending the funeral of a close relative or visiting a seriously ill close relative;
participants of youth international sports events and persons accompanying them;
persons participating in scientific, cultural or creative activities, including university and other exchange programs;
participants in official exchange programs between sister cities;
children under six years of age;
scientists traveling for the purpose of performing scientific research;
representatives of non-profit organizations under the age of 25 participating in seminars, conferences, sports, cultural or educational activities organized by non-profit organizations.

Interesting:

Schengen is a small village in the southeast of Luxembourg, located on the banks of the Moselle River at the intersection of the borders of Luxembourg, Germany and France.

On June 14, 1985, the "Schengen Agreement" was signed in this place.

Rules for the first entry into Schengen: myths and reality. And also what you need to know if you are going to go to Europe.

The rules of the Schengen Agreement do not and did not contain a clause according to which you are required to enter the country that issued this visa to you on a new multi-visa.

The Visa Code defines a visa: it is a permit granted by a Schengen Member State for transit through the territory or intended stay in the territory of the Member States for a total duration of not more than 90 days within 180 days. That is, the country that issued the Schengen multivisa gives permission to stay on the territory of other countries that are part of the Schengen zone.

Suppose you have a Spanish Schengen visa and your destination is Barcelona, but you are not flying directly, but with a transfer in Cologne. Then Germany will be the first country you enter - and the German border guard will not have any questions why you ended up here, although another country issued you a visa. Imagine that you are going to Barcelona by car - and then it is all the more impossible to get to Spain without driving through almost all of Europe, and Latvia, or Lithuania, or Poland will become the first country in the Schengen zone.

We will make a reservation that we are talking about a multiple-entry visa: a single entry visa issued, for example, by Italy, gives the right to enter the Schengen zone only through Italy, and if you try to enter Belgium with it, you will have to give explanations to the border guards, who may not let you through. However, a single-entry visa does not imply staying exclusively in one country - then you can freely travel throughout the Schengen area. Also, the concept of "country of first entry" works for transit visas category C.

So you need to apply for a visa not at the consulate of the country through which you are going to enter the Schengen, but the one in which you are going to spend large quantity days allotted by the visa. This compliance with visa rules is really monitored, and if you requested a visa from Spain, entered through Spain, but spent your entire vacation in France, then next time you may not be given a visa - neither France nor Spain. Finland, through which many Russians travel to Europe, in addition to the number of days, also closely monitors the number of entries into the country. If at the time of application you do not yet know where you will spend more time, you must honestly report this on the application form. And then, if it is impossible to determine the country - the main destination, it is necessary to indicate through which country you are going to enter the Schengen.

Again, it is important to know that if you did not travel to the country that issued your visa, then you should only write a free-form statement “why you could not go to the country that issued the visa”, for example, “because of illness”. This is done when applying for the next, next visa.

A Schengen visa is a document issued by a country that is part of the Schengen Agreement to you in order to visit one or more countries of the Schengen Union. It should be well understood that obtaining a Schengen visa is possible only in case of strict adherence to established standards. And all these rules should be studied in official sources.

The Schengen visa has two main rules: the first entry rule and the main country of residence rule. Both of these laws are described in detail in the document that regulates the rules for issuing a visa. You can find such a document on the website of any embassy, for example, on the official website of the German embassy - the document is called "Recommendations on the competence in issuing visas by individual Schengen states."

The rule of the first entry into Schengen is that if you cannot select the main country of residence (for example, you are going to spend an equal period of time in several European countries), then you need to apply for a visa at the embassy of the state through which you plan enter the Schengen area.

This, first of all, applies to multivisa. After all, a multivisa can only be obtained at the embassy of the main host state and the first visit, if possible, should be made to the country that issued the visa. In another case, it is impossible to clearly identify the main country of residence, you can simply submit documents to the embassy of the state that you are going to visit first.

What can be fraught with an attempt to enter through a different Schengen country that issued you a visa

The document cited above clearly spells out this option. So, if you cross the borders of the wrong country that granted you a visa, you must present a compelling and valid reason for this. If there are no reasons, you can simply be denied entry - this is what the instruction says "Recommendations on the competence in issuing visas by individual Schengen states"

What can be attributed to such "special" reasons

The correct answer to this question can be given, probably, only by the border guards themselves. Logically, a special reason could be, for example, passing through one state in order to get to the country of the main destination, for example, on cheap tickets. Therefore, if you have a Moscow-Rome ticket with a transfer in the city of Düsseldorf (and you have tickets confirming such a flight), then a special reason appears by itself.

It is also worth noting that, having a multivisa available, after the first visit to the country that issued this document, on subsequent trips you have the opportunity to enter any other country that is part of the Schengen Agreement. For example, with a Schengen multivisa, you can easily fly to Paris or Madrid on weekend business! You should clearly remember the rule of the main country: you must spend more than half of the time in the Schengen area in the state that issued the visa.

Countries that have internal agreements between themselves and do not require the visitor to comply with the rules on the first entry in the event that entry will be made to one of such countries, and final destination the route will also be one of the following countries:

Luxembourg.
Netherlands.
Sweden.
Belgium.

In these countries, the first entry rule is enforced very strictly:

Denmark,
Austria,
Finland,
Czech Republic,
Greece,
Germany,
Spain,
Italy,
Greece

A number of exceptions:

The first entry into Austria or Germany, the purpose of which is to visit one of these two countries. Compliance with the first entry rule under the immigration control procedure of such countries is not mandatory, but you will be required to confirm further route and additional documents that will prove the purpose of the visit.
First entry to Portugal or Spain for the purpose of visiting one of these countries. The immigration control of these countries does not require compliance with the first entry rule, and the provision of additional confirmations is not necessary.

illustrative example: a citizen of the Russian Federation received a Spanish single-entry Schengen visa, gets the opportunity to enter without any problems immediately into the territory of Portugal, but does not have to make the first entry into the territory of countries such as Finland or Germany.

This is the basic part of the rules that are directly related to the Schengen Convention. They are mainly guided by services visa control airlines when checking the authenticity of Schengen visas for passengers on international flights.

The only member of the Schengen agreement that does not comply with the rules regarding the first visit in relation to any country of Schengen visas is France.

The United Kingdom is not a party to the Schengen Agreement.

What can be fraught with an attempt to enter through a different Schengen country that issued you a visa

What can be attributed to such "special" reasons

Countries that have internal agreements between themselves and do not require the visitor to comply with the rules on the first entry in the event that the entry will be made in one of these countries, and the final destination of the route will also be one of the following countries:

Luxembourg.
Netherlands.
Sweden.
Belgium.

In these countries, the first entry rule is enforced very strictly:

Denmark,
Austria,
Finland,
Czech Republic,
Greece,
Germany,
Spain,
Italy,
Greece

A number of exceptions:

The first entry into Austria or Germany, the purpose of which is to visit one of these two countries. Compliance with the first entry rule under the immigration control procedure of such countries is not mandatory, however, you will be required to confirm the further route and additional documents that will prove the purpose of the visit.
First entry to Portugal or Spain for the purpose of visiting one of these countries. The immigration control of these countries does not require compliance with the first entry rule, and the provision of additional confirmations is not necessary.

This is the basic part of the rules that are directly related to the Schengen Convention. They are mainly used by the visa control services of airlines during the verification of the authenticity of Schengen visas for passengers who follow international flights.

The only member of the Schengen agreement that does not comply with the rules regarding the first visit in relation to any country of Schengen visas is France.

The United Kingdom is not a party to the Schengen Agreement.