How Much Does Schengen Visa Cost in 2026?

Quick answer: A standard Schengen visa costs €90 per adult in 2026 — but that is rarely the final number you pay. Visa application centres, photos and mandatory travel insurance usually push the real cost to roughly €150–€200 per person.

• Children aged 6–11 pay half price (€45); under-6s are fee-exempt.
• The €90 is flat — a 1-day single-entry visa and a 5-year multiple-entry visa cost the same.
• The fee is non-refundable if your visa is refused, and none of it covers insurance.

This guide breaks down every cost that will touch your bank account before you fly: the official visa fee, the extras you cannot dodge, the cases where you pay less or nothing, and the scenarios where the bill climbs well past €200. You will also find realistic worked examples, so you can budget in pounds, dollars or euros without guesswork.

One honest warning before the numbers: visa fees are reviewed and can change, and each consulate sets its own local-currency equivalent. The amounts below reflect the published EU fee schedule at the time of writing. This is general guidance, not legal or visa advice — always confirm the fee on your consulate's website before you pay.

What does a Schengen visa cost in 2026?

The official Schengen visa fee is €90 per adult. It is the same amount whether you apply in Paris, Berlin, Madrid or Rome, because the fee is set centrally by the EU, not by individual member states.

The fee is per application, not per trip. That means one payment covers a single-entry visit, a double-entry trip, or — if you have a solid travel history — a multiple-entry visa valid for several years. The consulate decides the validity, but the price tag does not change based on it.

That table is the official picture. The practical picture — what leaves your bank account — includes the visa application centre fee, which most consulates quietly require you to pay before they will touch your file.

What exactly does the €90 cover?

The €90 pays for the consulate's work: checking your documents, running background and security checks, taking your biometrics and issuing the visa sticker in your passport. If your application is refused, the money is not returned, because the work has already been done.

What the fee does not cover often surprises first-time applicants:

• The visa application centre's own service fee (charged by VFS Global, TLScontact, BLS International or similar)
• Biometric enrolment is included for most applicants — you should not be charged extra for fingerprints at a standard appointment
• Passport photos if yours fail the strict ICAO standards
• Travel medical insurance, which is mandatory and bought separately
• Return courier delivery of your passport if you do not collect it in person

Some applicants assume the €90 is an all-inclusive processing package. It is not. Treat it as the government component of a bill that also includes a private agency's handling fee.

Why €90 — and could the fee rise during 2026?

The €90 figure is not plucked from the air. The EU last raised the standard fee on 11 June 2024, when it went from €80 to €90 for adults, and from €40 to €45 for children aged 6 to 12. The increase was tied to inflation and to rising administrative costs across member states.

Fees are reviewed periodically under the EU Visa Code, and a further inflationary adjustment is possible during 2026. At the time of writing, the published schedule still shows €90 for adults — no confirmed increase had been adopted. But do not treat that as a guarantee for the whole year.

The habit that will save you money: check the fee on the consulate's website the week you apply, not the week you start planning. Prices in this article reflect the latest published EU schedule and may move.

Airport transit visas: when you pay €90 but never enter Schengen

A separate category exists for passengers who never intend to pass through immigration. The Type A airport transit visa is for travellers changing planes at a Schengen airport and flying on to a non-Schengen destination without entering the country at all. In most member states it costs the same €90 as a full short-stay visa, plus the same application centre service fee.

You are better off than a full-visa applicant in one respect: you will not need travel insurance, an itinerary of hotels or proof of funds. The consulate only needs to verify that you have a confirmed onward ticket and that you will remain airside. A single-entry or multiple-entry Type A visa covers your stays in the international transit zone but gives you no right to walk through passport control into the city.

The catch is that not every nationality needs a Type A, and the published lists differ slightly from state to state. Nationals of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka face airport transit requirements at most Schengen consulates, so check the destination country's list before assuming you can transit freely.

There are two exceptions that regularly save applicants €90. Most member states waive the Type A requirement if you hold a valid visa or residence permit from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan or another state named in the consulate's notice. The second exemption applies when your two flights leave from the same terminal complex and you never clear border control.

If your itinerary involves an overnight stay outside the airport or a transfer between two different airports, you are no longer "in transit" in the legal sense — you are entering the Schengen area and need a full Type C visa instead.

Always state clearly on the application form that you are applying for transit only. Some travellers accidentally request the full short-stay visa, pay the same €90, and then discover their insurance and hotel bookings were never needed in the first place.

Who pays less than €90 — or nothing at all

Plenty of applicants qualify for a reduced or waived fee, and many overpay simply because nobody told them to ask.

• Children under 6 pay no visa fee, though they still need their own passport and application form.
• Children aged 6–11 pay €45, half the adult rate. Most consulates apply the age on the date of submission, not the date of travel.
• Spouses and children of EU, EEA or Swiss citizens pay nothing when they apply under Directive 2004/38. You need proof of the family relationship and evidence your EU family member is travelling with you or joining you.
• Citizens of countries with visa-facilitation agreements pay €45 instead of €90. Armenia and Azerbaijan have active agreements; the reduced rate is cancelled or suspended for others, so verify your nationality before assuming you qualify.
• Researchers and students may qualify for reduced or waived fees in some member states under EU mobility rules. This varies by country, so ask the consulate directly.

If you fall into any of these groups, say so in writing on your cover letter and carry the supporting documents. Consulates do not proactively hunt for your discount — you have to claim it.

Who pays more: the €135 fee few people expect

A small group of nationalities pays a higher fee of €135 because their governments do not cooperate adequately with the EU on readmitting irregular migrants. The list is revised periodically and published in the EU's official journal.

This matters if you hold a passport from a country that recently appeared on that list. Your consulate will apply €135, not €90, and no amount of polite negotiation will change it.

The list does change over time — countries have been added and removed as readmission cooperation improved. Search your nationality plus "Schengen visa fee" on the consulate's domain, or email them directly, and you will get a definitive answer before you book a non-refundable appointment slot.

Children travelling with one parent: the hidden paperwork bill

A child under 6 pays no visa fee, yet a family can still spend an extra €100 or more before the child's file is accepted. The difference is the documentation that consulates demand when a minor travels alone or with only one parent.

Most Schengen states require a notarised consent letter from the non-travelling parent. In the UK, a notary typically charges between £80 and £150 to witness and certify the signature; in the United States, a notarised consent can cost as little as $10 at a bank, but foreign consulates may insist on a certified copy or an apostille, which pushes the price back up.

If the child holds a different surname from the travelling parent, most consulates also ask for the birth certificate. Where that certificate is not in an official EU language or English, a certified translation can add roughly £35–£60 per page at a reputable translation agency. Budget for it before you apply, because a document that cannot be read by the case officer is treated as a missing document.

The one clean edge case is sole legal custody. If the travelling parent provides a court order showing exclusive custody, the other parent's consent is not required. Print the original order and a certified translation if needed, and your application folder suddenly becomes much cheaper and far less stressful.

The real cost: application centre fees and other unavoidable extras

Here is the gap between the official fee and the real one. Most Schengen states outsource application intake to private companies, and those companies charge for the service. You cannot opt out and go directly to the embassy in most countries — the centre is the only door in.

Add a modest contingency — say 10% — for currency conversion and unexpected photo retakes. A realistic single-trip budget for one adult applicant is €150–€200, which is double the headline €90 figure for a reason.

Remember the centre service fee is not refunded if your visa is refused. You are paying for the handling of the file, and the file was handled.

Annual travel insurance is usually the cheapest compliant option

Single-trip Schengen policies are priced for one journey, but an annual multi-trip policy is frequently available for barely more than two single-trip purchases. A healthy 30-year-old can often buy a worldwide-excluding-the-US annual policy for £30–£60, whereas two separate two-week Schengen policies might cost £40–£80 combined.

The trap is the policy wording, not the price. Your certificate must state medical cover of at least €30,000, extend across the entire Schengen area, and remain valid for the full period of your intended stay. A policy that covers "Europe excluding France" or offers only €20,000 of emergency care will be rejected even if it was cheap.

Some consulates publish lists of approved insurers, and several mainstream banks include qualifying Schengen medical cover as a free perk on premium current accounts. If your bank does, ask for the written certificate before your appointment — a verbal assurance from a call-centre agent will not impress a visa officer.

If your application is refused and the insurer refuses a refund, the loss is usually small compared with the visa fee itself. Still, buying an annual policy instead of a single-trip one is the single easiest way to reduce the total cost of a Schengen visa application for repeat travellers.

What a real 2026 application costs: three worked examples

Theories are fine, but you budget in scenarios. Here are three realistic ones using typical published centre charges and median insurance quotes. Treat the totals as illustrative — actual prices vary by consulate, currency and provider.

Take the family example. The official fee is €270, but then two adults and two children each pay a centre service fee of around €35–€40, insurance for a family of four often runs €100–€160 for two weeks, and photos and courier delivery add another €30–€50. The total quietly approaches €600.

If a relative or friend in the Schengen area is covering your accommodation and living costs, you will also need a schengen visa sponsorship letter to show the consulate. That document does not add a fee, but it must be signed, notarised where requested, and backed by the sponsor's bank statements — an unprepared letter can delay your decision, which costs you more in rescheduled flights than any visa fee.

Worked scenario: the policy wording that turned €122 into €271

Here is how one small document error multiplies a visa bill. Priya, an Indian passport holder legally resident in London, planned to fly with her husband to Paris on 30 June 2026 for a 12-night holiday across France and Switzerland. Her main destination was France, so she applied through TLScontact in London on 21 May.

Her first application cost £84 for the visa fee (the London equivalent of €90 at the consulate's published rate) plus a £38 centre service fee. That was £122 before a single night of accommodation was booked. The case officer rejected her application on 3 June because her travel policy capped emergency medical costs at €25,000 — €5,000 below the mandatory minimum.

Priya's problems then compounded. The £122 was gone with the refusal, and her cheap single-trip insurer refused a full refund because she had already activated the policy. She booked a new appointment for 11 June, paid another £84 visa fee and another £38 centre fee, bought a compliant €60,000 policy for £14.50, and was charged £12 for replacement photos at the counter.

Her second submission cost £148.50, bringing the total for one visa to roughly £271 — more than double the advertised cost.

The counterfactual was painful: a compliant annual policy costing about £35 would have passed on the first attempt, leaving her total at £157 and preserving her original travel dates. The lesson is to read the insurance certificate's wording before you pay for an appointment, not after a refusal letter arrives. Visa fees and centre charges are only lost once; the second bill is entirely avoidable.

Are US citizens and green card holders charged the €90?

US citizens do not pay the €90 for short stays, because they do not need a Schengen visa at all. US passport holders can visit the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period visa-free. The only potential charge is the €20 ETIAS travel authorisation once that system goes live — not the €90 visa fee.

Green card holders are a different story. A US green card proves residence, not citizenship. If your passport is from a visa-required country, you still need a Schengen visa, and you pay the standard fee in dollars at the consulate's published conversion rate — usually close to the €90 equivalent, plus the application centre service fee in the US.

The full process — where to apply, what documents the consulate wants and how the green card helps — is covered in our dedicated guide on the schengen visa for us green card holders. The short version for budgeting: expect roughly $100 in visa fee plus $25–$40 in service charges per applicant.

Do multiple-entry or long-validity visas cost more?

No. This is one of the most pleasant surprises in the system. A single-entry visa valid for 15 days costs €90. A multiple-entry visa valid for one, three or five years also costs €90.

The fee is attached to the application, not the validity you are granted.

So why would anyone be refused a multi-year visa if the price is the same? Because validity is earned, not bought. Consulates look at your previous travel, your immigration history and your reason for travel before granting a multiple entry schengen visa validity period.

Apply for the longest validity you can honestly justify. Frequent travellers with a clean history and a compelling itinerary can walk away with a five-year visa for the same €90 that a first-time tourist pays for a two-week single entry. That is exceptional value if you travel to Europe regularly.

Biometrics, expired passports and the 59-month clock

Your fingerprints are stored in the Visa Information System for 59 months from the date they are first collected. If you apply again within that window, the consulate can match your prints electronically and usually will not need to collect them afresh. Travel outside that window means new fingerprints and a physical appointment all over again.

Children under 12 are exempt from fingerprinting altogether in most member states, which is why many consulates allow a parent to submit a young child's file without bringing the child in person. The exemption does not reduce the service fee, because the centre still handles the paperwork.

A valid multiple-entry visa can outlive the passport it is glued into. If you renew your passport while holding a multi-year Schengen visa, do not assume the visa is dead. Most member states recognise the visa in the old passport provided you carry both documents when you travel and the personal details still match.

A few consulates offer a paid service to transfer the visa sticker into the new passport, while others refuse to transfer and simply tell you to travel with both booklets. Before you spend money on a transfer, ask the consulate directly. If you report your old passport as lost or stolen, however, the visa cannot be resurrected — a replacement means a fresh €90 application and a fresh centre fee.

When and where do you actually pay the fee?

Payment timing varies by country, and getting it wrong can cost you an appointment slot. Here is the typical sequence for applications lodged at a visa application centre:

1. Book your appointment at the centre — some providers sell premium slots for earlier dates, but the visa decision itself is not expedited by paying more.
2. Check whether your consulate requires a bank transfer before the appointment — several German missions, for example, publish account details and ask you to pay the fee in advance and bring the receipt.
3. If payment is taken at the centre, you will pay the visa fee and the service fee together at the counter, usually by card or local cash.
4. Receive a printed fee receipt — keep it. You will need it if you collect your passport or query the decision.

A red flag worth repeating: no legitimate consulate or visa centre will ask you to pay fees by gift card, cryptocurrency or a random third-party bank account. If an "agent" demands that, you are being scammed. All official fees are paid to the consulate's account or the authorised visa centre at the point of lodgement.

Is the Schengen visa fee refundable if your visa is refused?

No. The fee covers the processing of your application, and a refusal is still a processed application. Consulates do not refund the €90 — or the service-centre fee — when the decision is negative.

There are two narrow exceptions worth knowing. First, if the consulate declares your application inadmissible because it is fundamentally incomplete, some missions return the fee because the file was never formally examined. Second, if you were accidentally double-charged, the overpayment should be refunded — contact the centre with your receipts.

If you voluntarily withdraw your application before a decision, do not expect a refund either. The work of checking your file has already started. That is why it pays to fix your documents before you submit, not after.

After a refusal: the maths of appealing versus reapplying

A refusal letter normally explains the legal basis, and that explanation shapes whether you appeal or simply reapply. If the problem was a missing document or a technical insurance defect, reapplying immediately with the gap fixed is usually faster and cheaper than any court action. If the refusal was based on doubts about your intention to return, wait until your personal circumstances genuinely change.

Appealing to the consulate's supervisory body is frequently free, but a formal court challenge is not. Legal representation for an administrative visa appeal in a country like France or Germany typically runs €200–€600 in fees before you consider court charges, and the process can take months. During that time your passport may be held or your travel plans evaporate.

Each new application after a refusal is another full-price event: €90 for the visa, the centre service fee, fresh insurance and new photos. That is why experienced applicants treat the first refusal as a training cost and rebuild the file rather than litigate it.

One detail matters for every future trip: the Schengen application form asks whether you have ever been refused a visa by any member state. Answer honestly. The Visa Information System stores refusals, and a false declaration on that question practically guarantees a refusal at your next attempt.

What most cost guides get wrong about Schengen visa fees

Three misconceptions cause most of the confusion — and most of the overspending among travellers.

• "Paying a premium fee speeds up the decision." Wrong. Schengen states have set processing times of 15 calendar days for most applications. A premium appointment only gets you into the centre sooner; the consulate's queue still moves at its own pace.
• "The visa fee includes travel insurance." Wrong. Insurance is a separate requirement with its own cost. Consulates will refuse you without proof of coverage of at least €30,000, and none of the €90 goes towards it.
• "If the visa is refused, the service fee is refunded." Usually wrong. The centre's fee covers its work collecting and transmitting your file, and that work is complete even when the outcome is negative.

Also note the difference between a short-stay Schengen visa and a long-stay national (Type D) visa. If you plan to study, work or stay beyond 90 days, each member state sets its own national visa fee, and the €90 rate does not apply. Always check which visa category you actually need before comparing prices.

ETIAS is cheaper — if you are visa-exempt

From 2026, travellers from visa-exempt countries — the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan and many others — will need an ETIAS authorisation rather than a visa for short stays. ETIAS will cost €20 for applicants aged 18 to 70, and it will be free for under-18s and over-70s.

That €20 covers a three-year authorisation. It is not a visa, and it is not the €90 fee. If you are reading this because someone told you to "get a Schengen visa," first check whether your passport is visa-exempt — you may only need the authorisation, at a fraction of the price.

ETIAS was still being phased in at the time of writing, so confirm its live status on the official EU site before you budget around it. Either way, do not pay a third party more than €20 for the application — the only official channel is the ETIAS website.

The currency trap: why the price you see is not the price you pay

Every consulate converts the euro fee into its local currency, and the conversion rate is set by the mission, not the market. That is why the "same" €90 visa can cost noticeably different amounts in US dollars, pounds or naira depending on where you apply.

In the UK, for example, the fee is typically quoted at a flat sterling amount per quarter — roughly £75–£85 in recent periods. In the US, it tends to hover around $100. The consulate's published local figure is the only number that matters, and it may differ slightly from what an online currency converter shows.

Budget a small buffer for this conversion. If your total comes to $102 because the consulate's rate is slightly worse than the live rate, that is normal, not a mistake.

Choosing the wrong consulate means paying the full fee twice

The fee is non-refundable, so the cheapest application is the one accepted by the correct member state on the first try. Under the Schengen rules, you must apply to the country where you will spend the most days. If your trip is split exactly evenly between two member states, apply to the one you enter first.

A common mistake is to choose the consulate with the shortest appointment wait rather than the correct one. The wrong consulate can declare your file inadmissible, and neither the €90 nor the centre service fee comes back. You then start over at the right consulate and pay everything a second time.

There is one legitimate exception to the main-destination rule. If your visit has no fixed itinerary and you are simply touring several countries by train or car, apply at the consulate of the country where you begin your journey or where you will spend your first night. Keep a copy of your first hotel booking or train ticket as evidence, because the officer will ask where you will be on day one.

How to confirm the exact fee before you apply

The fee schedule changes, and no article — including this one — can guarantee tomorrow's number. Checking it takes five minutes:

1. Find the consulate or visa application centre for the Schengen country that is your main destination.
2. Look for their "Fees" or "Visa fees" page — the amount is usually published in local currency plus the euro equivalent.
3. Check whether you qualify for a reduced fee based on age, EU family ties or a facilitation agreement.
4. Add the application centre's service fee, visible on the VFS or TLScontact booking page.
5. Verify the insurance requirement and get a quote — it is part of your real budget.

For the official euro amounts, the European Commission's Schengen visa pages publish the current schedule and any amendments. The fee was €90 at the time of writing, and that page is the place to check for confirmed changes before you pay. Requirements and fees change — confirm with official sources before you book flights or appointments, and you will never be caught out by an unexpected increase.

Key takeaways

• The standard Schengen visa fee is €90 per adult, €45 for children aged 6–11 and free for under-6s.
• The fee is flat — multiple-entry and longer-validity visas do not cost more, though you must qualify for them.
• Budget €150–€200 per adult once application centre fees, photos and insurance are included.
• The fee is non-refundable on refusal, so submit a complete, honest application the first time.
• US citizens and other visa-exempt travellers pay nothing for short stays — only €20 for ETIAS once live; green card holders with non-US passports still pay the full fee.
• Confirm the current fee on your consulate's website and the official EU pages before paying.

See also: Schengen visa processing time