New Delhi: Indians can now apply for multiple-entry Schengen Visa with longer validity as per a statement by the European Union (EU). This new visa scheme for Indians will be beneficial for short stays and will provide easy access to visas with multi-year validity for travellers with an established travel history if the passport is valid.
On April 18, the European Commission adopted specific guidelines for granting Indian nationals multiple entry visas. These guidelines are more advantageous than the previous version of the visa code. As per the newly adopted visa cascade regime for India, Indian nationals can now be issued long-term multi-entry Schengen visas valid for two years after having obtained and lawfully used two visas within three previous years.
The two-year visa will be followed by a five-year visa, if the passport has sufficient validity remaining. During the validity period of these visas, holders enjoy travel rights equivalent to visa-free nationals as per the EU. This decision comes amid the context of strengthened relations between the EU and India, with the facilitation of people-to-people contacts, being a major aspect due to the importance of India as a partner of the EU.
The Schengen visa allows the holder to travel freely in the Schengen area for short days of a maximum of 90 days in any 180 days. Although the visas have no specific purpose, they do not give the ability to work. Together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, the Schengen area comprises 29 European countries (25 of which are members of the EU): Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden.
