How Much Is a Schengen Visa for a Family of Four?

If you're pricing up a Schengen visa for a family of four, here's the headline: the fee is charged per person, not per family. Two adults and two children aged 6–11 pay €270 in official visa fees. Two adults and two teenagers pay €360.

Two adults and two under-fives pay €180.

That's only the money that goes to the consulate. On top you'll usually pay a service fee to the visa centre for each applicant, travel insurance for the whole family, and possibly a courier charge to get your passports back. A realistic all-in budget lands somewhere between €300 and €700.

Below you'll find the actual numbers, four worked scenarios, the fee exemptions most families never hear about, and the costs that quietly add €100 to your bill. Treat it as general information rather than immigration advice. Fees change, consulates collect in local currency, so confirm the final amount on the consulate or visa centre's own page before you pay.

How much is a Schengen visa for a family of four?

Short answer: between €180 and €360 in official visa fees, depending on how old your children are.

There's no family rate and no group discount. The Schengen visa fee is fixed by EU law and charged per applicant. The only variable that changes the maths is age — and the age bands are unforgiving.

Family of four	Official visa fees
2 adults + 2 children under 6	€180
2 adults + 2 children aged 6–11	€270
2 adults + 2 children aged 12–17	€360
Mixed ages (e.g. one under 6, one teenager)	€270
Non-EU family of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen	€0

Those are consulate fees only. Most families end up paying 30–60% more than the headline number once the visa centre, insurance and document costs are in.

The official Schengen visa fee, per person

The fee is set in euros under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1415 and it went up on 11 June 2024. Before that date adults paid €80. Plenty of blog posts, and a fair few travel agents, still quote the old figure.

Applicant	Fee	Notes
Adult aged 12 and over	€90	Same price for a single-entry or multiple-entry visa
Child aged 6–11	€45	Exactly half the adult fee
Child under 6	€0	No visa fee at all
Family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen	€0	When travelling with or joining that citizen
National of a country with a visa facilitation agreement	€35	Limited list; some agreements are suspended

Those figures were correct at the time of writing. The European Commission's visa policy pages carry the current euro amounts, and your consulate or visa centre will show the exact price in your local currency.

Why the 12th birthday is so expensive

There is no teenage rate. The moment your child turns 12, their visa costs the full €90 — the same as yours. That single birthday doubles what you were paying for them.

For a family of four, one child crossing from 11 to 12 adds €45 to the total. Two children crossing that line in the same application adds €90. Worth knowing if your travel dates are flexible and a birthday is close.

The under-6 exemption works the same way in reverse. A child who is five on the day you apply pays nothing. Age is assessed at the time of application, not at the time of travel.

Are Schengen visa fees the same in every country?

In euros, yes. Every Schengen consulate charges the same €90 / €45 / €0.

In practice you pay in local currency, converted at a rate the mission sets. So a US family pays dollars, a UK family pays pounds, a Kenyan family pays shillings. Converted amounts drift with exchange rates and are usually rounded up rather than down.

On top of that, the service fee charged by the visa centre — VFS Global, TLScontact, BLS International and similar operators — is set locally and genuinely differs by country, sometimes by city. That's the number that makes one family's total look very different from another's, even when the visa fees are identical.

What the €90 actually buys you — and what it doesn't

The fee covers the administrative processing of one application. It is not a deposit, not a guarantee and not a payment for anything beyond a decision.

It does not include the visa centre service fee, the insurance certificate, biometric photos, translations, courier return or travel to the appointment. It also does not buy faster processing, because there is no paid priority tier in the Schengen system.

Three consequences follow. First, the fee is not refunded if you withdraw your application. Second, it is not refunded if your plans change.

Third, it is not refunded if the visa is refused — you pay again in full to reapply.

The €35 visa facilitation rate: who still gets it

A handful of nationalities pay €35 instead of €90 because their country has a visa facilitation agreement with the EU. This is a separate legal instrument from the standard Visa Code fee.

• Still active: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Cape Verde — €35 for adults, with most applicants eligible for multiple-entry visas
• Suspended: the Russia agreement was suspended in full in 2022, and the Belarus agreement has been partially suspended since 2021
• Obsolete: agreements with Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and North Macedonia are now largely academic because those nationals are visa-exempt for short stays

The €35 rate applies to the applicant's own nationality, not to their residence. An Armenian passport holder living in London pays €35; their British spouse pays nothing at all.

What a family of four actually pays: four worked scenarios

Here's where it gets real. Each scenario assumes two parents and two children, a standard 10-day tourist trip, and every applicant paying the visa centre service fee.

Family make-up	Visa fees	Visa centre fees	Insurance	Realistic all-in
2 adults + 2 children under 6	€180	€0–€160	€0–€60	€180–€400
2 adults + 2 children aged 6–11	€270	€100–€160	€70–€120	€440–€550
2 adults + 2 teenagers 12–17	€360	€100–€160	€100–€180	€560–€700
1 EU citizen parent + 3 non-EU family	€0	€0–€120	€70–€150	€70–€270

These are illustrative ranges, not quotes. Service fees in particular swing a lot — some centres charge roughly €25–€40 per person, others bundle in a biometric charge or mandatory courier return.

Scenario 1: two adults, two children under six

The cheapest family setup. Under-6s pay no visa fee, so you're only paying for yourselves: 2 × €90 = €180.

Under-6s also don't give fingerprints, and in most countries they don't need to attend the appointment at all. That means you can often book a single slot for the two adults rather than four.

Insurance is usually the same story. Most family travel policies include children under 18 free when they travel with a paying adult, so you may only pay for two adults. Expect €25–€60 for a family policy meeting the Schengen minimum of €30,000 medical cover.

Realistic total: €180 to €400.

Scenario 2: two adults, two children aged 6–11

This is the middle band. Each child aged 6–11 pays €45, exactly half the adult fee. So (2 × €90) + (2 × €45) = €270.

Children aged 6–11 still don't give fingerprints — the biometric exemption runs to under 12. So again, you may only need two people at the appointment window.

Insurance creeps up slightly because the children are older, but a family policy still usually covers them free or for a few euros each. Budget €70–€120.

Realistic total: €440 to €550.

Scenario 3: two adults, two teenagers

The most expensive version, and the one that surprises parents most. A 13-year-old pays €90, not €45. The half-price band ends the day before the 12th birthday.

So: 4 × €90 = €360 in official fees.

Teenagers also need to give fingerprints, which means the whole family attends the visa centre. Some centres charge a small biometric fee on top of the service fee; others include it.

Insurance for four adult-priced travellers runs €100–€180. Realistic total: €560 to €700.

Scenario 4: one parent is an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen

Under EU free movement rules (Directive 2004/38/EC), the non-EU spouse and dependent children under 21 of an EU citizen pay no visa fee at all — and in most cases the visa must be issued free and on an accelerated basis.

There's a catch worth spelling out for a UK audience. British citizens lost EU citizenship when the UK left the EU. A British parent does not trigger this exemption.

An Irish parent does. So does a French, Polish or Italian parent.

The exemption applies when the family is travelling together with the EU citizen, or joining them. If the EU citizen is staying at home, the free visa generally doesn't apply.

One real family, one real bill: the Sharmas, April 2025

Priya and Rohan Sharma live in South Delhi and hold Indian passports. Their children are Aarav, aged 11, and Diya, aged 5. They booked a 12-day trip to Paris and Lyon departing 20 June 2025.

Their VFS Global appointment for the French consulate was on 14 April 2025. Aarav's 12th birthday fell on 2 May 2025 — five weeks after the appointment.

That timing saved them €45. Because age is fixed on the application date, Aarav was still 11 and paid the child rate.

What they paid, line by line

Item	Amount
Official visa fees: 2 adults × €90	€180
Official visa fees: Aarav (11) at child rate	€45
Official visa fees: Diya (5) at under-6 rate	€0
VFS service fee, 4 applicants	₹5,800
Biometric photos, 4 sets	₹2,000
Certified translations of two birth certificates	₹3,000
Courier return of passports, 4	₹2,000
Rejected insurance policy (wasted)	₹1,900
Replacement insurance policy, 2 adults + 2 children	₹8,800
Total	≈ ₹44,500 (about €480)

The official fee of €225 was converted at roughly ₹93 to the euro, adding about ₹21,000. That's less than half the final bill.

What went wrong

They bought the cheapest travel policy they could find — a domestic Indian insurer with no branch in any EU country. The document checker at VFS refused it on the spot.

Schengen rules require the insurer to be authorised in an EU/EEA member state, or to be an insurer authorised in a third country with a branch in a member state. A purely domestic Indian policy doesn't satisfy that.

Their replacement policy, bought the same afternoon from a European insurer, cost roughly four times as much. The wasted ₹1,900 was gone.

The lesson isn't "buy the expensive policy". It's "check the insurer's authorisation before you pay, not at the counter".

What they'd have paid three weeks later

Had their appointment slipped past 2 May, Aarav would have paid €90 instead of €45. That's €45 extra — roughly ₹4,200 — for identical travel dates.

The reverse also holds. A family whose child turns 12 shortly after their intended appointment can save €45 per child simply by booking the slot before the birthday, provided the six-month advance window is open.

And a family who got it wrong: the Okonkwos

Chidi and Ngozi Okonkwo applied at the Italian consulate in Lagos in March 2025 for a July trip to Rome with their two teenagers. Their bank statements showed a healthy balance but had been supplied for only one month, not the three to six months most consulates ask for.

Both teenagers' applications and both adult applications were refused. The family lost the full €360 in visa fees plus roughly €140 in service fees, with no refund and no appeal on the merits of the money.

They reapplied in May with six months of statements, a sponsorship letter and a hotel booking in both parents' names. The second attempt cost the full €360 again. Total outlay for one visa each: about €1,000.

The extra costs nobody warns you about

The visa fee is the number everyone quotes. It's rarely the number that matters. Here's what actually lands on a family of four's final bill.

Visa centre service fees

Most Schengen consulates in most countries don't take applications directly. You go through an outsourced centre: VFS Global, TLScontact, BLS International or a local equivalent.

These centres charge their own fee per applicant. A typical range is €25–€40 per person, though it runs higher where a centre offers only premium services. For four applicants, that's €100–€160.

• Charged per person at most centres, including for babies
• Sometimes waived for under-6s, sometimes not — ask before you book
• Payable separately from the visa fee, often on the same card terminal
• Non-refundable even if the visa is refused

Travel insurance for four people

Schengen rules require travel medical insurance covering at least €30,000 for medical treatment and repatriation, valid across all Schengen countries for your whole stay.

You need the certificate before you apply, so this isn't optional spending. For a 10-day trip, expect to pay roughly:

• Two adults only, children free on the policy: €25–€60
• Two adults plus two children priced individually: €80–€140
• Annual multi-trip family policy: €90–€200, worth it if you'll travel twice

Buy from an insurer that will issue a certificate naming all four travellers and showing the €30,000 figure. Cheap policies that don't produce a proper certificate cause more rejections than any other single document.

Photos, documents and translations

Small costs that multiply by four:

• Biometric photos: €5–€15 per person, so €20–€60 for the family
• Photocopies and printing: €5–€20
• Certified translations of birth or marriage certificates: €30–€120
• Bank statements and payslips: usually free, though some banks charge for stamped copies

Optional extras

Visa centres are good at selling upgrades. None of these are required:

• Courier return of passports: €10–€35 per applicant
• Premium lounge or fast-track: €30–€70 per person
• SMS status updates: €2–€5 each
• Form-filling or document-checking service: €20–€60 per person

For a family of four, saying yes to everything can add €200–€400. Take the courier if the centre is far away. Skip the rest.

Getting to the appointment

Not a visa cost, but it's real. Schengen visa centres cluster in a handful of cities. If you live three hours away and need two separate visits, that's fuel, parking and possibly a hotel.

Factor it in before you assume the €270 fee is your total.

Processing times: how long the fee takes to become a visa

The fee is payable when you lodge, but the visa arrives on a statutory clock that starts the day the application is accepted as admissible — not the day you book the appointment.

Situation	Maximum processing time
Standard application	15 calendar days from the date of lodging
Consulate needs more scrutiny	Up to 45 calendar days
Exceptional cases with additional documentation	Up to 60 calendar days
Family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen	Accelerated procedure, normally well inside 15 days
Admissibility check at the visa centre	Usually same day, but can take several days

When you can apply — and when it's too late

• Earliest: six months before your intended date of travel
• Latest: 15 calendar days before your intended date of travel
• Urgent cases: consulates may accept later applications, but there is no obligation and no extra fee to jump the queue
• Seafarers: can apply at any time in the course of their duties, with separate rules

Because the latest submission window is 15 days and standard processing is also 15 days, applying on the last permissible day leaves zero margin. Families who apply 8–10 weeks ahead are the ones who don't end up rebooking flights.

There is no expedited fee in the Schengen system

That's worth stating because families routinely ask. Unlike the UK, US and Canada, which sell priority processing, the Schengen system has no paid fast-track tier.

What looks like priority is usually a visa centre's own premium service — lounge access, document checking, passport delivery. It speeds up your experience at the counter. It does not speed up the consulate's decision.

The one genuine fast-track is the EU family member route under Directive 2004/38/EC, and it's free. It's a legal right, not a purchase.

Where you lodge — and why shopping around saves nothing

Families sometimes assume they can apply at a consulate that charges less. There's no such consulate. The euro fee is identical everywhere.

What you do have to get right is which consulate is competent to handle your application. Choose wrongly and you'll be redirected, refused, or made to reapply — with no refund.

The main destination rule

1. One country only? Apply at that country's consulate.
2. Several countries, unequal nights? Apply at the country where you'll spend the most nights.
3. Equal nights in two or more countries? Apply at the country of first entry.
4. Transiting only? Apply at the country of first entry, unless you need an airport transit visa for a specific airport.

You must also apply in the country where you legally reside. A tourist visiting relatives in the US cannot lodge a Schengen application there — they apply at home.

Two stays that add up to one main destination

Count nights, not days. If your family spends four nights in Spain, four in Portugal and three in France, Spain is the main destination, even though Portugal comes first.

If Spain and Portugal are tied at four nights each, the tie-breaker is first entry — so a flight landing in Lisbon means Portugal handles the file. Consulates check this against your itinerary and accommodation bookings.

Airport transit: the €90 visa families buy by mistake

Connecting through a Schengen airport is not the same as entering the Schengen area. Most travellers don't clear immigration and don't need anything.

But nationals of certain countries need an Airport Transit Visa (ATV) even if they never leave the terminal. The fee is the same €90 adult rate, charged separately from any other visa.

Nationalities that commonly need an ATV

• Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana
• Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka
• Some Schengen states add extra nationalities on their own account — France, for example, applies additional requirements at certain airports

There are broad exemptions. You generally don't need an ATV if you hold a valid visa or residence permit issued by a Schengen state, an EEA state, or by the United States, Canada, Japan, Andorra or San Marino.

Family members of EU citizens, holders of diplomatic passports and flight crew are also exempt. This is a corner of Schengen law where national variations are real, so confirm with the specific consulate before booking a connection through Frankfurt, Paris or Amsterdam.

Dual nationality: the decision rule that can save your family €180

Here's a rarer situation with a big price tag attached. If any member of your family holds a passport from a visa-exempt country, they don't need a Schengen visa at all.

Visa-exempt nationalities include the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, the UAE, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Argentina and Chile, among others.

The rule is straightforward: the passport used to enter the Schengen area determines whether you need a visa. A child with a British passport travels visa-free, even if they also hold a Nigerian passport.

• Use the exempt passport — and travel with it. You cannot enter visa-free on the strength of a passport you left at home.
• Don't apply for a visa you don't need. Consulates routinely refuse applications from visa-exempt nationals because the applicant has no legal basis to request one.
• Children may hold a second passport you haven't applied for. If one parent is British or Irish, check the child's entitlement before spending €90.
• Border guards care about the passport, not the nationality list. Both passports must be valid for the trip.

For a mixed family of four, this single question can swing the bill from €360 to €0. Check each traveller's passports before you check the fees.

Previous refusals, expired visas and old passports

Old paperwork affects what you submit and what you pay — usually by making you submit more.

Situation	What it costs you
Previous refusal on record	Full fee again; plus a written explanation and stronger evidence
Expired visa in an old passport	No extra fee; present both passports at the appointment
Expired passport, visa still valid	Generally unusable — you must travel on a valid passport; the visa doesn't transfer
Name change since last visa	Full fee; plus marriage certificate or deed poll as proof
Fingerprints taken within 59 months	Possible to skip the biometric appointment, but check with the centre

The 59-month fingerprint rule and what it saves

Fingerprints collected for a Schengen visa are stored in the Visa Information System for 59 months. If an adult in your family has an unexpired record, they may not need to attend in person.

That can save a return trip to a distant visa centre — often the largest single soft cost in the whole process. It rarely reduces the service fee, though, because most centres charge per applicant regardless of attendance.

When a refusal helps you

A refusal is not a permanent bar, and a clean subsequent approval can support longer multiple-entry validity later. What hurt the Okonkwos wasn't the refusal itself — it was the same thin documentation in the second application.

Fix the actual reason in the refusal letter before reapplying. Paying €360 twice with unchanged paperwork produces a second refusal, not a visa.

How Schengen visa costs compare with other destinations

Context matters when a family is choosing where to travel. The Schengen fee is mid-range globally, but the child pricing is unusually generous.

Destination	Fee structure	Family of four, roughly
Schengen area	€90 adult / €45 child 6–11 / free under 6	€180–€360
United Kingdom	Standard visitor visa, 6 months, per person; no child discount	≈ £508
United States	B1/B2, per person; no child discount	≈ $740
Canada	CAD 100 per person + biometrics, which are capped per family	≈ CAD 570
Australia	Visitor visa, per person; no child discount	≈ AUD 800
Türkiye	e-Visa, per person; free for some nationalities	≈ $200

These are approximate and change frequently, so treat the comparison as indicative rather than exact. The point is that Schengen's under-6 exemption and half-price 6–11 band have no real equivalent in the UK, US or Australian systems.

Canada is the one scheme with a genuine family mechanic: the biometric fee is capped per family rather than charged per person. It's the closest thing to a family discount in mainstream visa pricing.

Who gets a Schengen visa free of charge?

Genuinely free visas are rarer than people assume. Here's the shortlist of common exemptions.

• Children under 6 — no visa fee, regardless of nationality
• Family members of EU, EEA or Swiss citizens — spouse, registered partner and dependent children under 21, when travelling with or joining the citizen
• Nationals with a visa facilitation agreement — the fee drops to €35 rather than €90, and a smaller group of countries has a full waiver
• School pupils and accompanying teachers on study trips — free in defined circumstances, with documentation
• Researchers travelling for scientific research — under specific conditions
• Representatives of non-profit organisations aged under 25 attending certain events — narrow, but it exists

What is not a fee waiver

Worth saying plainly, because families ask every week:

• Having four applicants in one booking reduces nothing
• Being a student doesn't waive the fee — a 15-year-old student still pays €90
• Being on a low income doesn't reduce the fee
• Being refused once doesn't earn a discount on the second attempt
• Holding a previous Schengen visa doesn't reduce the fee

The school trip exemption, in detail

School pupils under 18 travelling on a study trip, together with the teachers accompanying them, can be exempt from the visa fee. So can accompanying teachers.

The conditions are strict. The trip must be for study or education, the group must be from a school, and the consulate needs a list of participants, confirmation from the school, and evidence the children are covered by a parent's or school's insurance.

This exemption is rarely claimed because most families simply book a holiday and pay the fee. But a school-organised trip to a Schengen country can genuinely cost nothing in visa fees for the children.

What most guides get wrong about Schengen visa costs

Four errors show up again and again.

1. "The fee is €80." It was €80 until 10 June 2024. It's been €90 since 11 June 2024. Any guide quoting €80 is out of date.
2. "Children under 12 are free." No. Under-12s don't give fingerprints. Under-6s don't pay the fee. Two different rules with two different ages, and people mix them up constantly.
3. "You get a family discount." You don't. The fee is per person with no group rate.
4. "The visa centre fee is optional." In most countries it isn't. If the consulate has outsourced applications, you pay the service fee to lodge at all.

One more, because it costs families real money: the fee is identical whether you're issued a single-entry or a multiple-entry visa. You aren't paying extra for multiple entries — you're requesting them, and the consulate decides.

Four more myths that empty wallets

"The €30,000 cover is per family." It isn't. The minimum applies to each insured person, so a certificate showing €30,000 in total for four travellers fails the requirement.

"Any travel policy will do." The insurer must be authorised in an EU/EEA state or have a branch in one. Policies from insurers with no European presence get turned away at the counter, exactly as happened to the Sharmas.

"You can pay for faster processing." There is no Schengen priority tier. Premium services at visa centres speed up queuing, not decision-making.

"A baby can travel on a parent's passport or visa." Every person needs their own passport and their own visa or exemption, including newborns. There is no such thing as adding a child to a parent's Schengen visa.

Does a multiple-entry visa cost more than a single-entry one?

No. The fee is the same. A multiple-entry visa costs €90, exactly like a single-entry one.

That changes the cost-per-trip maths completely. A five-year multiple-entry visa at €90 works out at €18 a year for one traveller — effectively nothing per trip if you visit Europe twice annually. A single-entry visa at €90 for one week is €90 spent once.

Consulates decide validity, not you. There's a fairly predictable pattern: correctly used previous Schengen visas improve your chances of a longer validity, while a first-time applicant should expect a period covering the trip dates and a small buffer either side. There's more detail on how long a multiple entry schengen visa validity period runs, including the five-year pattern and how the 90/180-day rule interacts with it.

Practical tip: tick "multiple entries" on the form even if you only have one trip booked. It costs nothing and it's the only way to be considered. Just make sure your itinerary and insurance support it.

Validity periods: what you actually receive

Visa type	Typical validity	Fee
Single-entry, short stay	Trip dates plus a short buffer, often up to 15 days either side	€90 / €45 / €0
Multiple-entry, 1 year	12 months, 90 days in any 180	€90 / €45 / €0
Multiple-entry, 5 years	60 months, subject to passport validity	€90 / €45 / €0
Limited territorial validity (LTV)	Valid only in the states named on the sticker	€90 / €45 / €0

An LTV visa is issued in exceptional cases — for example when a family member needs to travel for urgent reasons but doesn't meet every condition. You pay full price and get less territory.

A national long-stay visa, needed for stays over 90 days, is priced entirely separately by each Schengen state. Common figures sit between roughly €75 and €140, and that fee is not governed by the €90 short-stay rule.

Step by step: paying for four visas without wasting money

1. Check whether you actually need a visa. US, UK, Canadian, Australian, Japanese and many other nationals don't need a Schengen visa for short stays. They'll need ETIAS once it launches. Check before you spend anything.
2. Confirm the fee in your currency. Go to the consulate or visa centre site for the country you're applying to, in the country where you live.
3. Work out the age bands. Write down each traveller's age on the application date and assign €90, €45 or €0.
4. Buy insurance first. You need the certificate before you lodge. Don't leave this to the day before.
5. Book appointments. One slot per person who needs to attend — usually not the under-12s.
6. Pay in one transaction if you can. Most centres let the lead applicant pay for the whole family on one card. Confirm before you queue.
7. Keep every receipt. You'll want proof of payment if there's any query later.

Documents your four applications must each contain

• Completed and signed application form, one per person including infants
• Passport valid at least 3 months beyond the planned departure and issued within the last 10 years
• Two recent biometric photos per person
• Travel insurance certificate showing €30,000 minimum cover per person
• Round-trip flight reservation and accommodation covering all four
• Bank statements for the last 3–6 months, plus payslips and an employer letter
• Birth certificates for the children, often translated
• Proof of the family relationship where a sponsor is paying

The application form fields that affect what you pay

Two boxes near the end of the harmonised Schengen form change what you must submit — and they catch families out. Numbering varies slightly between consulates, so look for the labels rather than the numbers.

"Cost of travelling and living during the stay is covered by". Tick "the applicant" if you're funding the trip yourself. Tick "a sponsor" if someone else is paying, and you'll have to prove it — which means a schengen visa sponsorship letter plus the sponsor's bank statements, ID and a signed declaration.

"Means of support". Cash, credit card, prepaid accommodation. For a family of four you must show enough money for all four of you, not just the lead applicant. Consulates often publish a daily minimum per person — check your specific consulate's figure.

These two boxes are where family applications fall over. The money is usually there. It's the documentation that isn't.

Applying as a family: appointments, biometrics and children

Here's how the mechanics work when there are four of you.

• One application per person. Four forms, four photo sets, four document bundles. Even a newborn needs their own application.
• Biometrics run to age 12. Anyone 12 or over gives fingerprints, valid for 59 months. Under-12s don't.
• Children usually don't need to attend if they aren't giving biometrics. Some centres still ask for the child to be brought, so check.
• One parent can often attend for the whole family if both parents have signed the forms.
• Single-parent families need proof of sole custody, or signed consent from the other parent plus a copy of their ID.

Book early. Family slots at busy centres can be taken weeks ahead in summer, and a missed appointment usually means losing the service fee.

Travelling with one parent, or with neither

This is the single most common reason children's applications get held up. The consulate wants to know the other parent agrees to the trip.

• Both parents travelling: birth certificate plus both passports. Nothing else needed.
• One parent travelling: notarised consent letter from the non-travelling parent, plus a copy of their passport or ID.
• Neither parent travelling: notarised consent from both parents, plus the guardian's details and contact information.
• Sole custody: a court order or death certificate replaces the consent letter.

Notarisation typically costs €20–€60 per document, and translations can double it. Build this into the budget before you book appointments, because a missing consent letter means a second visit and a second set of travel costs.

School letters and proof of enrolment

For school-age children, many consulates ask for a letter from the school confirming enrolment and approving the absence. It's free, but it takes a week to obtain.

Submit the original. Photocopies of school letters are frequently rejected, and the turnaround time on a replacement can push you past your appointment.

Applying from the US as a green card holder family

If you're a family of four living in the US on green cards, applying from the US is straightforward — but there's a trap.

A green card doesn't determine whether you need a Schengen visa. Your passport nationality does. A green card is proof of US residence, not a travel document.

It lets you apply from the US rather than from your country of nationality. Nothing more.

So a family of four Indian passport holders with green cards needs four Schengen visas. A family with two British passports and two Indian passports needs two visas, not four.

There's more on how the residence rule works in this guide to a schengen visa for us green card holders.

Which consulate handles a green card family

Schengen consulates in the US operate by jurisdiction. Your state of residence determines which consulate you use — a New York family applies at the New York consulate, not the Los Angeles one.

Applying at the wrong US consulate means your file is returned. You don't get the fee back, and you book a new appointment. Check the consulate's own jurisdiction map before you pay for anything.

Schengen visa cost vs ETIAS vs UK ETA

Families planning a Europe-plus-UK trip often mix these three up. They're separate systems with very different price tags.

Scheme	Who needs it	Cost	Status
Schengen visa	Visa nationals visiting the Schengen area	€90 adult / €45 child 6–11 / free under 6	In force
ETIAS	Visa-exempt nationals visiting the Schengen area	€20; free under 18 and over 70	Not yet live — expected from late 2026
UK ETA	Visa-exempt nationals visiting the UK	£16, valid 2 years	In force

So a visa-exempt family of four heading to both the UK and the Schengen area might pay £64 for UK ETAs, and — once ETIAS opens — nothing for the children at all, since under-18s are exempt from the ETIAS fee.

Compare that with €270–€360 for the same family on Schengen visas. Different schemes, wildly different bills. Check the official ETIAS site for launch timing, because it has moved more than once.

ETIAS is not a visa and not a guarantee

ETIAS is a travel authorisation, valid three years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. It's tied to one passport — renew the passport and you need a new authorisation.

Approval is usually automatic within minutes, but a referral can take up to 30 days. Unlike a Schengen visa, there's no appointment, no biometrics and no visa centre fee.

Crucially, ETIAS doesn't guarantee entry. Border officers still make the final call on every traveller, including children.

If your visa is refused, do you get the money back?

No. The visa fee is non-refundable in every circumstance. The visa centre service fee is almost always non-refundable too.

If your family of four is refused, you're out €270–€360 in consulate fees, plus the service fees, and you pay again to reapply. That's why the document bundle matters more than the fee itself.

Appeals are possible but slow, and they don't come with a refund either. For most families, a corrected reapplication is faster and cheaper than an appeal.

How long an appeal takes, and what it costs

Route	Deadline	Typical outcome time
Remonstrance (administrative review at the consulate)	Often 15–30 days from notification	Weeks to a few months
Appeal to the national authority	Set by national law, commonly 30 days	Several months
Judicial appeal	Set by national law	6–18 months
Fresh application instead	Immediately, in most cases	15–60 days

Some appeal routes carry a filing fee, and it varies by country. French procedures, for example, charge a fee for certain appeals against refusal, and that fee is on top of the visa fee you already lost.

The refusal letter states your appeal deadline and the body to appeal to. Missing the deadline closes the route entirely.

Paying in local currency: what it does to your budget

• Fees are set in euros but collected in local currency
• Conversion rates are set by the mission, not the market, and rounded up
• Some centres take card only; others want cash in local currency
• Foreign transaction fees on your card can add 2–3% — check before you pay
• If the terminal offers a choice, always pay in the local currency, not your home currency

None of this is huge on its own. Across four applicants it can easily add €15–€30 to the bill without you noticing.

Cash is the bigger risk. Turning up with the euro amount in local cash calculated at the market rate — rather than the consulate's posted rate — can leave you short at the counter, and visa centres don't take underpayments.

Budget checklist for a family of four

• Visa fees: €180 / €270 / €360 depending on children's ages
• Visa centre service fees: €0–€160
• Travel insurance (€30,000 minimum cover): €25–€180
• Biometric photos: €20–€60
• Translations and certified copies: €0–€120
• Notarised parental consent letters: €20–€120
• Courier return of passports: €0–€140
• Travel to and from the appointment: €0–€150

Realistic total: roughly €300 to €700.

If your budget has to stretch, protect the insurance spend first. A rejected policy costs a second premium plus a delay, which is nearly always the most expensive mistake in the whole process.

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for official advice. Always verify current requirements with official sources before you travel.

Key takeaways

• The Schengen visa fee is per person: €90 for anyone 12 and over, €45 for children 6–11, free under 6.
• A family of four pays €180, €270 or €360 in official fees depending purely on the children's ages.
• Add €100–€400 for visa centre service fees, insurance and extras. Budget €300–€700 all in.
• There's no family discount, no student discount, and the fee isn't refunded if the visa is refused.
• Multiple-entry visas cost exactly the same as single-entry, so always ask for multiple.
• Confirm current fees on the consulate or visa centre's own site before you pay — this is general guidance, not professional advice.

See also: Schengen visa processing time