Schengen visa. The most important thing you need to know
Schengen and the European Union. Where can I get on a Schengen visa?
The most common mistake &# 8211; confuse the Schengen zone and the European Union. In Schengen (a single space without inner boundaries) consists of 26 countries that signed an agreement on the unimpeded crossing of the border, they are marked in blue in the picture. This can also include dwarf states, for example, Andorra, Vatican, Monaco and San Marino.
Blue marked countries that have signed the Schengen Agreement, but are not included in the European Union (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland).
On a Schengen visa, you can also get to Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus (the map shows by marsh colors). All of them are part of the European Union, but not accepted in Schengen. It does not prevent you from getting there if you have a Schengen visa.
be careful! Rule does not work in the opposite direction &# 8211; On a visa of one of these countries, you will not be able to get into the Schengen space.
On a Schengen visa, absolutely impossible to get to Ireland and the United Kingdom. They are members of the EU, but are not included in the Schengen zone (marked green).
What &# 8220; open a visa&# 8221;? Is it necessary?
In fact, the legislative rules of the first entrance does not exist.
That is, if you have issued a Greek visa, and you plan to enter the Schengen zone through Estonia, no one has the right to not let you only because you are not flying directly from Russia to Athens.
Of course, there are certain &# 8220; but&# 8221;. For example, on the border you can ask you where you are heading, ask to name the exact address of the hotel or provide a ticket to the aircraft if you say that you will have flight to the country, issued a visa. It happens extremely rare, in most cases the presence of a Schengen visa is sufficient. In principle, as must be.
Another question if you received a visa to Greece for 5 years and have never moved there for 5 years, while your passport is almost full of seals of other states of the Schengen Agreement. In this case, when re-obtaining a visa to Greece, the consulate can clarify why the visa was not used to be appointed. Most often, this does not follow any measures, sometimes repeated visa can give for a few times, and even the refusal (the Consulate of Finland is famous for this).In fact, travel once a year to the country, issued a visa, is enough to show the so-called target use of a visa.
How cheaper all to issue a Schengen visa?
Registration of a visa through the consulate is cheaper than the whole &# 8211; you pay only consular fee &# 8211; 35 Euro. The only problem &# 8211; Short working day and recording on the reception that can only be opened &# 8220; per month&# 8221;. But you need to say what it happens rarely. Usually you can safely sign up for the next week.
Registration in the visa center will cost 10-30 euros more expensive, and this is perhaps the only minus. But here you should not be mistaken &# 8211; This is not a travel agency, so you should not expect from the employees of the TC, that they will fill out a questionnaire for you or help with booking air tickets and hotels.
The list of authorized visa centers of all states Shengen is on Evrovisa.info / map.
What is multivisa?
Multivisa is a visa that allows an unlimited number of times to enter the territory of the Schengen countries throughout its validity period. It may vary depending on the goals of the trip – business or tourist, as well as in terms of action – for example, an annual multivis.
You did not have visas and you never have ever been abroad? Most likely, for the first time you will give a visa to the dates of the trip, but many examples are known when the multivibuses pasted into completely empty passports.
Consulates of Consulates of Greece, Italy, France and the Czech Republic, and often, often upon the first appeal. And the most difficult in the work of the summer of 2017, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia called the Visa Centers of Hungary, Slovenia and Portugal.
If I turn to the agent, it will increase my chances of receiving multivis?
No no and one more time no. Only the Consul decides whether to give you a visa or not, and he doesn’t seek uncomment, you all issued and submitted documents or attributed our money to the agency.
Plus feeding through intermediaries only in the fact that they will help to collect documents and fill out a questionnaire, but in any case you will have to personally appear in the consulate or visa center for the delivery of biometric data (fingerprints) if you did not give them earlier.
How many days I can be abroad?
The time of stay in the countries of Shengen on a tourist visa is limited to 90 days for six months. That is, you can enter 10 times a 9 days or arrive only 1 time, but to spend everything in Europe at once all 3 months. Next you need to leave the Schengen zone and wait for the next half year.
Half a year need to be considered not by the calendar, but depending on the dates of travel. How to find out how many days left? Do not suffer with calculations, use the visa calculator by entering the dates of all trips over the past six months.
I do not work. Will you give me a visa?
Consul does not matter where you get money from, they just have to be. Provide bank statements (with a printout of the money in the account) or specify the sponsor of the trip (in this case, sponsorship financial guarantees will be required).
Each country has its own money minimum on the day, to which it is worth navigating when submitting documents. In the Netherlands it ranges from € 34 for every day of stay, in the Czech Republic – from € 42, in Italy – from € 45, in Iceland – from € 50, in Spain – from € 65 (but at least € 581 for the entire trip), In Denmark – from € 70, in Switzerland and Estonia – from € 86.

How quickly you can get a visa?
Faster everything you can get a French visa, since November, tourist visas began to issue for a record 48 hours. Greece’s visa center promises to place a visa for 2-3 business days, Norway – for 3-4 days (if the application was filed online through a visa portal), Italy, Spain, Malta, Czech Republic, Switzerland – for 5. The longest will have to wait for permission to enter Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands and Finland – from 10 to 15 business days.
Why may refuse?
According to statistics, in Russia one of the lowest failures in the issuance of a Schengen visa – about 1%. The most common cause of failures – incorrectly executed documents or incorrect information. For example, if you indicated the place of work in which no longer number, provided copies of documents on which the data is unintelligible, exaggerated salary and other income &# 8211; In this case, you can immediately submit to a visa again, collecting all the missing information.
Another reason – violation of the rules of the Schengen zone. For example, if you have ever deported from Schengen countries or you spent more time in the country than was allowed &# 8211; There will be quarantine (from three months to year). This means that during this time you cannot enter the Schengen countries nor submit applications for visas in any of the visa centers
Another reason is the incomprehension of the specified travel purposes with real. For example, you designated the purpose of traveling tourism, and in fact we are going to meet with business partners or treatment.
Having received a refusal of a visa, you have the right to appeal. It must be addressed to the country that has adopted such a decision. All procedures for appeals, as well as the addresses of organizations through which it can be filed, is usually indicated in the official letter that will be issued with the passport.
Lifehaki
• If you are lazy to collect and submit documents yourself, use special services. You can also arrange everything online: just to scan documents.
• Medical insurance for visa easiest through aggregators: this can be done online in just a five minutes, comparing the offers of different insurance companies and choose the most advantageous.
• The easiest way to book your stay – make reservations with the possibility of canceling a booking.com, which do not require immediate payment. However, keep in mind that some consulates do not accept unpaid reservations: among them Latvia, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia and Slovakia.
• Remember that the validity of the visa can not be longer than the period of the passport of action, so that, if the count on a long multivisa, think in advance about how to issue a new or a second passport.
• The only two Schengen states who do not have their visa centers – is Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. For a trip to Luxembourg will have to apply for the visa at the consulate and the documents for the visa to Liechtenstein taking in the visa application center in Switzerland.