Europe trip becomes more expensive as Schengen visa fee surges by 12%

A 12% surge in Schengen visa fees has been announced by the European Commission which will begin from June 11 adding to the cost of Europe trip from across the world.

The new hike will apply to Type C Schengen visas, which are allocated to short-stay travelers.

"The European Commission adopted a decision to increase short-stay Schengen visa (visa type C) fees worldwide by 12%. The increase will apply worldwide as of June 11 2024. New Schengen visa fees will be 90 euros for adults and 45 euros for children aged 6 to below 12 years of age,” a press release by the Republic of Slovenia said. It is still free for those applying between the ages of 0 and 6 (under six).

Few countries are exceptions with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus which are required to pay Euro 35, while applicants from Cabo Verde have to pay Euro 60.

The visa fee has been revised following a review in December 2023, which is carried out every three years as per the Schengen Visa Code.

In February 2020, the fees for adult visas were increased from 60 euros to 80 euros. The reason for the increase was attributed to inflation and growing civil worker wages.

However, the recent increase is made to cover the costs of visa processing and security measures.

Meanwhile, data published by Lago Collective, a community of researchers, policymakers and designers in collaboration with the EUobserver, reported that governments of the European Union earned Euro 130 million in 2023 in rejected visa application fees, dubbed as ‘reverse remittances’.

Reportedly, over 10.3 million short-stay visa applications were made in the Schengen Area in 2023, a 37% uptick from 2022. However, it was still less than the record of 17 million applications in 2019.

The participating countries in the Schengen area include Belgium, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. 25 of these countries are European Union member states.