A trip to Europe will be a little more expensive starting February as Schengen visa fees are set to increase from Euro 60 to Euro 80! A Schengen visa is a short-stay visa, issued to allow a person to travel to any members of the Schengen Area for a stay for up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes. A Schengen visa covers 26 European countries, including Denmark, Greece, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Spain.
The increase in the visa fee comes as an updated Schengen Visa Code will apply from February 2, 2020. Fee for children aged 6 to 12 has also been increased from Euro 35 to Euro 40. There are no changes in the fee for infants and children below 6, which is that it be issued at No Cost.
Officials say,” that the moderate increase of the fee to Euro 80 will ensure sufficient financial resources to maintain a wide consular coverage worldwide, upgrade IT equipment and software and provide faster and user-friendly procedures for visa applicants”.
On June 20, 2019, new visa codes were adopted by the European Parliament and by the Council on June 20, 2019, following which the Schengen visa application form has also been slightly restructured.
As per the information shared by SchengenVisaInfo.com, A website sharing information about the Schengen visa. Over 16 million Schengen Visa applications were filed at the embassies, consulates and visa centers in 2018 and India was listed as the third-largest source for Schengen visa applications with 10,81,359 visa requests.