Schengen Visa 2026Requirements, Countries List, Fees & the 90/180 Rule

A Schengen visa is a short-stay visa (Type C) that lets you travel across all 29 Schengen Area countries on one document. It allows stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period for tourism, family visits or business. You apply once, at the consulate of your main destination, and can then cross internal Schengen borders without further checks.

The Schengen Area has 29 member countries in 2026: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. One short-stay visa covers all of them. Note that Ireland is in the EU but not in Schengen, and the United Kingdom runs its own visa policy.

It depends on your nationality. Citizens of 95 of the 199 nationalities Earth Visa tracks do not need a Schengen visa for short stays - either because their country is a Schengen member or because they are on the EU's visa-exempt list (verified against France's published visa policy). The remaining 104 nationalities must apply for a Schengen short-stay visa before travelling.

The standard Schengen short-stay visa fee in the official fee schedules we track is EUR 90 for adults and EUR 45 for children aged 6 to 12; children under 6 are free. A reduced EUR 35 fee applies to nationals of countries with an EU visa-facilitation agreement (for example several Eastern European and Caucasus states). Service-centre handling fees (VFS, TLScontact) are charged on top where consulates outsource intake.

Visa-free visitors and Schengen visa holders may stay at most 90 days within any rolling 180-day window, counted across the whole Schengen Area, not per country. Every day spent in any member state counts toward the same allowance. On each day of your stay, look back 180 days: the total days spent in Schengen in that window must not exceed 90.

In the official data we track for France, consulates decide within 15 days in most cases, extendable to up to 45 days when extra scrutiny or documents are needed. You can lodge the application up to 6 months before travel; applying at least several weeks ahead is strongly advised in high season.

Yes. A standard (non-territorially-limited) Schengen short-stay visa is valid for the whole area - all 29 member countries - within its validity dates and the 90/180 limit. You must apply at the consulate of your main destination (longest stay), or of first entry if stays are equal.

No. The United Kingdom is not a Schengen member and runs its own visa policy, as does Ireland (which is in the EU but stayed outside Schengen). A Schengen visa does not grant entry to the UK or Ireland, and UK/Irish visas do not grant entry to the Schengen Area.

The standard file is: the harmonised application form, a passport valid at least three months beyond your planned departure from Schengen, recent photos, travel medical insurance with at least EUR 30,000 coverage valid across Schengen, proof of accommodation and itinerary, proof of sufficient funds, and evidence of ties to your home country. Consulates and their VFS/TLScontact centres publish per-nationality checklists - see our per-country corridor guides for specifics.