The EU Member states have adopted new visa rules modernising the visa policy to strengthen security, making it easy for travelers for tourism, and business.

In 2017 alone, over 14 million Schengen visas were issued for short stay visits.

The current visa rules are set in the Visa Code and date back to 2010 and due to increased security concerns, the commission proposed to modernize visa rules.

The new rules will apply 6 months later once the regulation is adopted and published in the official journal.

New Schengen visa rules

The new visa rules include :

• Applications can be submitted 6 months in advance: Travellers will be able to submit their applications up to 6 months in advance of their planned trip (9 months for seafarers), instead of the current 3 months, and in most cases, directly from their country of residence. Where available, they may also fill in and sign their applications electronically. Minors between 6 and 18 years old may be exempted from the visa fee.
• Multiple entry visas have longer validity of 5 years: Thanks to the introduction of common mandatory rules, frequent travellers with a positive visa history can receive a multiple-entry visa with a gradually increasing validity period from 1 year to a maximum of 5 years, saving time and costs for applicants and Member States. Travellers’ fulfilment of entry conditions will be thoroughly and repeatedly verified in all cases.
• Visa fee increased to €80 euros : In view of significantly increased processing costs over the past years, a moderate increase of the visa fee (from €60 to €80) will be introduced. This modest increase will allow Member States to maintain adequate levels of consular staff worldwide to ensure stronger security screenings, as well as the upgrading of IT equipment and software, without representing an obstacle for the visa applicants.
• Improving cooperation on readmission:  The conditions for processing visa applications can be adapted depending on whether a third country cooperates satisfactorily on the return and readmission of irregular migrants, including as regards the maximum processing time of applications, the length of validity of visas issued, the level of the visa fee and the exemption of such fees for certain travellers.  The new rules will also enable to use the leverage of our visa policy in cooperation with non-EU countries when it comes to the return and readmission of irregular migrants

The common EU visa policy facilitates travel to the EU for tourism and business purposes, contributing to the EU’s economy and growth, people to people contacts and cultural exchanges.

The commission said the benefits of visa travel need to be balanced with measures to adequately respond to present and future security and migration challenges.

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