All You Need To Know About Schengen Visa Types
If you think about travelling to Europe, the first thing you possibly do is, think about the best tourist attractions there. Isn’t that correct? On the other hand, the purpose of your visit could be anything from leisure tourism to a business meeting or career-related, and the duration could also vary. This is where you’ll need to understand about the different Schengen visa types depending on the purpose and duration of your travel while applying for a visa.
If the Schengen visa type that you select for the visa application does not match with your purpose of visiting Europe, your visa could be easily rejected. So, read more about the Schengen visa types in this article, so that you can be clear about which type of visa to opt for while applying.
WHAT IS A SCHENGEN VISA?
Before going into the Schengen visa types, you need to, ideally, understand what a Schengen visa is. It is an agreement between some European countries to encourage free movement of travellers between their borders. The agreement was first signed in 1985 between five European countries at a small winemaking village of Luxembourg, called Schengen. That’s where the Schengen visa got its name from.
The Schengen agreement abolished the checks and restrictions in their common borders, through a single visa for travellers who enter their territory. Later, many more countries joined the agreement and lead to the formation of Schengen area, comprising of 26 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
So, if you’re planning to visit any of these Schengen area countries, you just need a single visa to travel around anywhere in these countries. Isn’t that amazing, considering you don’t have to get multiple visas for travelling to any other Schengen country during your trip?
WHAT ARE THE SCHENGEN VISA TYPES?
Although you just need the Schengen visa to enter the Schengen territory, there are some Schengen visa types that you need to opt for, when applying for a Schengen visa. Primarily, a Schengen visa is obtained to stay/visit a Schengen country for a temporary period, and are classified into three main Schengen visa types:
UNIFORM SCHENGEN VISA (USV)
The Uniform Schengen Visa is one of the preferred Schengen visa types helps you to stay and travel in any country that is part of the Schengen area. The validity of the Uniform Schengen visa is for a maximum of 90 days. There are certain sub-categories for Uniform Schengen visas too:
- Category ‘A’: Commonly known as the ‘Airport Transit visa’, this visa is compulsory in situations when you travel from one non-Schengen country to another, by passing through a Schengen country airport. In this case, you are just allowed the entry to the Airport, but can’t set foot in the Schengen country.
- Category ‘B’: This category is also known as the ‘Transit Visa’, where you can travel through any Schengen country to a non-Schengen country. However, your travel inside the Schengen area cannot exceed 5 days.
- Category ‘C’: This denotes the ‘Short Term visa’, where you can reside in the Schengen country for the entire duration of your visa validity. They are subdivided into single entry visa, double entry visa, and multiple entry visa, depending on how many times you’re likely to visit again.
LIMITED TERRITORIAL VALIDITY VISA (LTV)
Unlike the Uniform Schengen visa, the Limited Territorial Validity Visa only allows you to travel and reside in one specific Schengen country, where they applied to visit. This means, you need to have a separate Schengen visa to travel to any other Schengen state, other than the one you applied to. This visa is, by preference, issued on the basis of international obligations, national interest, and on humanitarian grounds.
NATIONAL VISA
National visa is one of the most important Schengen visa types. You can apply for this visa type if you intend to study, work, visit, or reside in a Schengen area country for a specific period of time. The most common visas like working visa, student visa, tourist visa, business visa, visitor visa and temporary or permanent entry visa come under this category.
This visa is issued with certain validity period to ensure that you have plans to return home once the validity of the visa expires. The basic requirements for all the categories of national visa are the same. It is the additional documents for each category that differs.
For instance, when you’re applying for a student visa, you’ll need to provide the enrollment number, admission details, and certificates of all the previous courses you’ve done. However, for a business Schengen visa, your employment contract with the current company and invitation letter from the company in the Schengen state are necessary.
The national Schengen visa can be single-entry as well as multi-entry visas, which depend on the nature and duration of your visit. While single-entry visa is self-explanatory, the multi-entry visa is for recurring visits, such as business visits or medical treatment visits.
HOW TO SETTLE UPON THE SUITABLE SCHENGEN VISA TYPES?
Now that you’re familiar with the Schengen visa types, you need to decide which type of visa you require for your visit. All you need to do is, understand the nature and the duration of your visit against the type and duration allowed for a particular type of visa.
If you are finding it difficult to choose from the aforementioned Schengen visa types, as the purpose of your visit is a bit more complicated, you can certainly get help from your travel agency. At Visa Reservation, we provide all the assistance you need to get your visa. So, rest assured, our friendly support crew can guide you through all the steps of your visa application, including selecting the appropriate Schengen visa type that suits your requirement. You can also choose your packages for mandatory visa requirements, like getting a travel insurance and flight reservation for visa by simply contacting us!
