South Africans to pay more for Schengen Visa

SOUTH Africans will, as from next month, pay a fee of €80 instead of €60 when applying for a Schengen Visa from South Africa.

The increase also affects children, who will now have to pay €40 instead of €35, as it is currently.

South Africans will also be subjected to several changes in terms of visa application procedures, rules and benefits, starting from February.

Due to the implementation of the Updated Schengen Visa Code, adopted by the EU Council in June 2019, all representative missions of the Schengen countries located abroad are obliged to apply the new rules, including the ones in South Africa.

The Schengen visa is one of the most famous visas in the world, and one of the best to have.

In other travel news: SA targets Indian tourist market

“This decision has been taken by the European Union for all the Schengen countries,” said French Embassy Head of the Press, Yana Brugier.

Granting to its holder the possibility of travelling to 26 European countries, 22 of them part of the European Union, the number of Schengen visa applicants has been steadily increasing every year.

Currently, travellers from 104 countries and entities need to obtain a visa to enter the EU for stays up to three-months within the Schengen Zone.

The new rules also permit South Africans to submit an application up to six months in advance of their trip, instead of three as it is now, and foresee a harmonised approach to the issuing of multiple entry visas with lengthier validity to regular travellers with a positive visa history.

Read also: SA tightens tourist safety strategy

According to SchengenVisaInfo.com, Member States that are not represented in South Africa in terms of visa admission, are now obliged to cooperate with external service providers, in order to facilitate visa application for travellers.

The external service providers are allowed to charge a service fee, which cannot be higher than the visa fee. This means South Africans applying at an external visa service provider may have to pay up to €160 per visa application, if the external service providers set the maximum service fee permitted, which is €80.

In addition, the updated Visa Code introduces a mechanism that assesses whether the visa fees should change, every three years. Another mechanism that will use visa processing as leverage will be introduced, in a bid to improve cooperation with third countries on readmission.

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