Complete list of documents for a Schengen visa. Schengen visa on your own

You can apply for a visa yourself or through a travel agency. Documents for a visa will be required in any case. Information on what documents are needed to apply for a visa is outlined below, taking into account the latest requirements.

In 2015, additions to the rules for obtaining a European visa were introduced. In addition to the standard set of documents for a visa, the applicant’s biometric data will be required. You will need to take a photo at the official visa issuing organization and undergo fingerprinting.

This procedure is a prerequisite for the first application for a Schengen visa. Children under the age of 12 are exempt from fingerprinting for a visa.

To apply for a visa to visit Schengen countries, you must contact the official Visa Center of the selected country or the Representative Office. The list of required documents for a visa is almost the same for all states in the Schengen area.

List of documents for a visa

1. Foreign passport. The passport must be valid for three months after the end of the visit. A copy of the passport of all pages.

2. Pictures in color, 2 pieces, taken over the last six months. There are special requirements for photos:

• Standard photo size is 35x45 mm;
• Up to 80% of the photo is occupied by the face in front;
• There remains 2mm from the top of the head to the top border of the image;
• The photo includes the upper part of the shoulders;
• The background should be light, close to white;
• If you wear glasses all the time, you can take pictures with them on, but you need to avoid glare.

3. Certificate from place of employment, indicating income and position.

4. If the applicant does not have a job and does not have a certificate from his place of work, then he must provide a bank account statement. This is necessary to confirm solvency. The approximate amount is 60 euros for each day of stay in one of the Schengen countries per person.

Sponsorship letter if the salary is small or there is no work at all. In addition to documents confirming the relationship, a copy of internal passport sponsor, a certificate from work, an extract from his bank account (a document proving relationship with the sponsor - the original and a copy - about marriage, about birth.)

5.A retired person will need a copy of their pension certificate.

6.The student will need confirmation from the dean's office and a copy of the student ID.

7. Completed application form for a Schengen visa, detailed and signed by the applicant.

8. Medical insurance.

9.Original and copy Russian passport, all pages.

10. Regardless of whether the applicant applying for a tourist visa is unemployed or is presenting a certificate of employment, a hotel reservation and return tickets will still be required.

If the purpose of the trip is study, then you will need a document of enrollment from the educational institution.

Visa documents are also required for minors.

Documents for a visa for a minor

• Original and copy of birth certificate;
• Own international passport child. The child can also be recorded in the foreign passport of one of the parents (father or mother);
• If a minor travels with only one of the parents, then the original and a copy of the notarized permission of the second parent for his export will be needed;
• If a minor travels with a third party, then in addition to documents confirming kinship, a notarized permission of both parents will be required.

If an applicant receives a refusal, for example, due to the fact that he does not have a certificate from his place of work or there are no documents confirming his relationship, this does not mean that departure is prohibited forever.

Many of us dream of traveling abroad. Some people want to see the Eiffel Tower, others want to admire the Colosseum, while others are eager to go to Oktoberfest. However, to implement everything planned, you need a visa and a passport. Nothing will work without them. So first you should make a foreign ID card, and then start collecting documents for registration

Main questions

It should be noted right away that getting the coveted stamp in your passport is quite difficult. This will require spending a lot of effort, time and, to be honest, money. Many people are frightened by such difficulties, and therefore they decide to shift all their worries onto the shoulders of visa centers or travel agencies. Yes, there are some advantages here. In these cases, visa issuance is practically never refused, and specialists collect all the documents. However, this is an incredibly expensive service. The fact is that specialists work with foreign countries and their representatives, trying to get a person a visa. This is serious and difficult. So you shouldn’t be surprised that a visa for several months, for example, to Germany, will cost 2,500 euros. While it is only 35. Therefore, before contacting an agency, you should carefully weigh the pros and cons. Maybe, really, you should take care of such an issue yourself as documents for obtaining a Schengen visa, and save a decent amount?

What do we have to do?

People who are puzzled by the question of what documents are needed to obtain a Schengen visa still have a lot of unclear issues. What's the first thing you need? First, call the embassy (or consulate) and make an appointment for a consultation. There the person will be explained in detail what documents are needed to obtain a Schengen visa. You just need to contact exclusively the consulate of the country where you are planning a trip. In principle, the package of documents required to obtain a stamp is the same, but it wouldn’t hurt to clarify.

Secondly, you need to take the visa application form and fill it out. Moreover, in two languages: Russian and national. In some cases, it is allowed to fill out in English if a person does not know the language of the country where he is going. This is the first and important step.

List of main documents

So, the questionnaire is the first piece of paper that needs to be put in a separate folder. But there are also other documents required to obtain a Schengen visa. One photo is required. It should be colorful, contrasting, clean and, of course, clear. Size - 3.5 by 4.5 centimeters. Be sure to be printed on high quality paper and on a light background. And, of course, no glasses, hats or anything else that could distort the image.

You will also need a foreign passport and its copies. The validity of the document must be more than three months after the expiration of the issued visa. By the way, if a person has already had Schengen cards stamped, then he will need to provide copies of those pages where they are available. This required documents to obtain a Schengen visa.

Important Additions

Foreign and civil passports are, of course, mandatory, but not everything. There are others Required documents to obtain a Schengen visa. You must also provide proof of your financial solvency (the bank statement should show that the person has 40-50 euros for each day). You also need medical insurance, the minimum coverage of which should be 30 thousand euros, and the original certificate received at work. If the person is a student, then such a document will be replaced by a paper received at the university. This is proof that the tourist will return to his homeland. You also need to pay a state fee of 35 euros.

It is important to provide a fax confirmation received from the hotel where the person plans to stay, or an agreement with the apartment landlord. If a tourist goes to visit someone, then this document and financial confirmation will be replaced by an official invitation from the host party, certified by a notary. You must also attach one-way and return tickets to the entire package of documents. As you can see, not everything is so complicated. And if a person has all of the above, then he will not be denied a visa.

Exit visas for Russian citizens

The MAP OF THE WORLD company provides information services and assistance in obtaining tourist and business visas to foreign countries.

The cost of the service includes the consular fee, the work of an agent in Moscow and depends on the type of visa, length of stay abroad and the range of services purchased from our company.

The set of required documents is discussed individually.

Required documents for visa application

• International passport (original), which expires no later than 6 months before the end of the trip.
• 2 photos 3.5-4.5 color on a light background, 80% of the face in the photo
• A photocopy of the Russian passport - all pages, the original birth certificate for the child.
• To take a child out - a notarized permission from the parents.
• Certificate from your place of work with a landline phone number.
• Driver's license for men for driver's visa.
• Bank statement about the account balance in any currency.
• If the child is traveling with one of the parents, a letter of sponsorship and a photocopy of the Russian passport of the sponsor (parent).

Schengen visa

The Schengen visa is the most popular visa among Russian citizens traveling abroad. How is this visa different from other types? The Schengen visa has existed since 1985, when 5 European countries - France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - signed an agreement on the smooth crossing of the borders of any of them with a single visa. The visa got its name from the town where the agreement was signed. Others later joined the treaty European countries, and on this moment there are 25 of them.

You can visit all 25 countries that have entered into the Schengen Agreement with a visa issued by one of these countries. Here is a list of these countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Belgium, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Spain, Malta, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Finland , Sweden and Estonia. Thus, the Schengen Agreement covers almost all of Europe. This is very convenient for the recipient of a Schengen visa.

There are several conditions that a Schengen visa must meet. One of the conditions is that you must receive it at the consulate of the country that is the purpose of the trip. Or you must enter the territory of the Schengen countries through the country that issued your visa - in this case you will not have to answer questions regarding the purpose of the trip. So it has some limitations - and you won't always be able to change your travel itinerary as you wish.

This visa is issued for up to 90 days, and you will need to collect a fairly large package of documents. For example, you will have to prove your financial solvency and take out health insurance. Generally, if a country issues a Schengen visa, national visa This country is either not issued at all or is issued quite rarely. When applying for a Schengen visa, you will need to pay a special fee.

To obtain a Schengen visa You need to collect basic standard documentation. It is important that they are properly designed. This is a guarantee that there will be no difficulties in obtaining a Schengen visa. When preparing for a trip with your children, don’t forget to prepare your children’s documents and collect them on time. As a rule, to obtain a visa to the Schengen countries, children are not invited to an interview at the Embassy.

For children traveling with parents or relatives when entering the Schengen countries, there are separate rules:

1 - In addition to the child’s international passport, it is necessary to have the child’s civil passport, if the child is already 14 years old, or the child’s birth certificate (preferably a copy and the original);

2 - Certificate from the child’s place of study;

3 - 2 color photographs measuring 3.5 x 4.5 cm;

4 - Medical insurance for the entire period of stay in Schengen;

5 – Permission from the parent who is not accompanying the child on the upcoming trip for the child to travel, indicating passport details. To France with translation into French;

6 - Personal data;

7 - If the child is accompanied by adults who are not the child’s parents, the following documents will be required from the parents:

• A photocopy of all pages of the civil (internal) passport of each parent;
• If the child and mother have different surnames, then documents confirming the relationship (divorce certificate, marriage certificate, paternity certificate, etc.);
• Certificate from the place of work of one of the parents;
  • The certificate is issued on the letterhead of your company where you currently work, where the address and all telephone numbers of the company are indicated. It must be issued in Russian, indicating your last name, first name and patronymic. The certificate must indicate your length of service at the company, namely: since what year and month have you been working in this company, with the obligatory indication of your position. In addition, the certificate should indicate the size of your salary or average annual income. Information about the amount of the upcoming vacation is required. The certificate should indicate the originating number and indicate that it is issued at the place of request.
  • You will be required to provide documents confirming your solvency. In other words, you will be required to provide financial guarantees. These may be:
    • credit cards;
    • bank account statement;
    • photocopies of travel receipts;
    • certificates from the place of work of your closest relatives, whose family relations are confirmed by a photocopy of the relevant document. This could be a husband, uncle, brother, etc.;
    • their sponsorship letters about financing your trip abroad, etc. If the amount indicated in one certificate does not confirm your solvency, you have the right to provide not one, but several certificates.

As a rule, on the embassy websites of the Schengen countries, all the information is presented correctly, but some nuances, on which a lot depends, are implied by default, and ordinary website visitors do not even know about them, so they often get the impression that the information is not true.

Possible reasons for refusal of a visa to the Schengen countries.

The official reason for refusal may be deportation during previous trips to any country participating in the Schengen area, as well as activities during previous trips that are incompatible with visa status. All countries participating in the Schengen Agreement have a common computer database. It records all persons who have committed illegal acts in any country in the Schengen area. An explicit or implicit threat to international relations or the security of the Schengen countries may serve as a refusal when attempting to enter the country and the territory of the Schengen area. The reason for the refusal may be the false information that you provided about yourself in the completed application form, identified by the embassy staff. For example, about your place of work, which is determined by employees of foreign missions by making regular phone calls to the numbers you provide.

Embassy employees are required to identify visitors from Schengen countries entering the country via tourist visa with the intention of staying in the country in order to earn money in it, without having work visa. A visa can also be denied to those who do not have a well-paid job, due to the possibility of their immigration intentions, as well as to a girl who went to travel around Schengen alone.

Among the unofficial reasons for refusal to issue a Schengen visa is unpresentable appearance, and even nationality. Our company will help you overcome all obstacles and create all the conditions so that your trip, despite any obstacles, will still take place. And if you entrust us with the preparation of your documents, we sincerely hope that we will be able to help you.

Entry visas to the Russian Federation for foreign citizens

Applying for a visa to Russia- a mandatory procedure for all foreigners, with the exception of residents of the former CIS countries and countries with which they have Russian Federation simplification agreement concluded visa regime- for them obtaining a visa to Russia not required.

There are several types of visas to the Russian Federation: tourist, business, work, student and private. One of the activities of the MAP OF THE WORLD company is assistance to citizens of other countries in issuing invitations to the Russian Federation in order to obtain both tourist and business visas in the future. It is the presence of an official invitation to the Russian Federation that is the basis for obtaining a visa at consular offices located in almost all countries of the world. To apply for a business or tourist visa, you will need color copy life-size passports and a completed QUESTIONNAIRE (attached below).

Business visa to Russia

According to the current legislation of the Russian Federation, everyone foreign citizen Anyone planning a business trip to Russia must first obtain a business visa. Issued to foreigners on the basis of a business invitation. It gives foreign citizens the right to stay on the territory of the Russian Federation for a certain period of time in order to represent the commercial interests of their company.

By validity period: single, double (validity up to 3 months) or multiple (valid from 3 months to 1 year). Stay on multiple-entry visas is limited, the total period of stay is no more than 90 days in each half-year.

Decor business visa completed within 1 to 17 working days.

The company "MAP OF THE WORLD" provides services for issuing a visa instruction (telex) and the original invitation (form), which are the basis for obtaining a visa by a foreigner. Invitation TELEX completed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to the Russian consulate abroad. Issuing such a business invitation is much more convenient and faster than issuing it on a letterhead, which is why it costs more. The production of such invitations for single and double-entry business visas can take from 2 to 4 working days, for multiple-entry visas – 12 working days.

ORIGINAL INVITATION is an official form that has varying degrees of protection against counterfeiting. The processing time for such an invitation is up to 17 working days. To obtain a business visa at the Russian Consulate, you must provide the original of such invitation. This type of business invitation is issued by the Federal Migration Service.

Application form for obtaining a business visa to the Russian Federation.

Date: ___________ Signature _____________

Tourist visa to Russia

Tourist visa - issued to a foreigner on the basis of a tourist invitation - voucher. It is necessary for citizens traveling to the Russian Federation (RF), as tourists, for cultural, entertainment, recreational purposes, to attend sports events, health centers. In some cases, when a foreigner needs to take part in a tourist trip short term business negotiations, auctions, exhibitions or undergo a medical examination, he is issued a tourist visa for the purpose of traveling “TARGET TOURISM”. The procedure for completing the necessary documents in this case is no different from the usual.
All you have to do is contact us, and within a day we will prepare all the necessary documents and help you issue a tourist voucher. A tourist visa can be single or double entry, the period of stay is up to 30 days.

To issue a tourist invitation, it is enough to provide a copy of the 1st page of your passport and fill out a short form. Almost all Russian consulates abroad accept a COPY of the TOURIST INVITATION for registration of the Russian tourist visa. Therefore, this visa is the fastest and most economical compared to a business visa. If you need to urgently apply short term visa to visit Russia, then your choice is a tourist visa.

Application form for obtaining a tourist visa to the Russian Federation

Date: _________ Signature _____________

Russian visa registration

According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, within three working days after arriving in the country, a foreign citizen is required to register (register for migration) at the place of his stay.

According to the law “On migration registration of foreign citizens and stateless persons in the Russian Federation”, it is determined that the place of residence of a stateless person or foreign citizen in the Russian Federation is a residential premises that is not a place of residence, premises, organization or institution where a foreign citizen or person is stateless and at the address at which he is subject to registration.

At the same time, the choice of the place where a foreign citizen or stateless person will register - at a private address or at the address of an organization - remains with the registrant.

It should be noted that all countries of the world are divided into two categories – migration-safe and migration-risk. The first group includes European countries, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Cyprus, Australia, Israel, Brazil, and Japan. The second group includes some countries in Asia and Africa (including Vietnam, China, India, Turkey, and so on).

My three foreign passports contain more than 10 Schengen visas and all of them were received perfectly on one's own. So I know first-hand how to prepare documents, how to correctly fill out an application for a Schengen visa, how and where to pay the visa fee, which country’s consulate to request a visa at, where to submit documents, how to sign up to submit documents and how to get a multiple-entry Schengen visa.

Disclaimer: I am telling you how to get a visa for an ordinary tourist. Adult and working. If there are nuances for students and minors, I indicate this with notes. I don't know anything about getting a work visa, a fiancé visa or other specific types of visas.

What you need to do to get a Schengen visa on your own

1. Book a hotel or hostel
2. Book or buy tickets.
3. Determine the country from which you will apply for a visa. Find the website of the consulate or visa center of that country.
4. Specify the list of documents and the need for copies. Download the consent form for the processing of personal data and the questionnaire.
5. Sign up to submit documents (if applicable). Fill out the form online (if applicable).
6. Get a certificate at work/study.
7. Obtain a bank statement or other financial documents confirming your financial solvency.
8. Get health insurance.
9. Take a photo.
10. Pay the visa fee if necessary in advance.
11. Collect the entire package of documents and bring them at the right time to the right place.

The plan to take over the world has been drawn up, now let's move on to the details.

At the consulate of which country to apply for a Schengen visa

The Schengen Agreement includes Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia*.

There are two rules to keep in mind if you plan to visit multiple countries on one visa:

• First entry rule applies if you plan to spend approximately the same amount of time in each country. Then you need to apply for a visa at the consulate of the country you are traveling to first.
• The rule is most long stay applies when, for example, you are going to Germany for a month, but plan to leave via Finland. You need to go not to the Finnish consulate, but to the German consulate**.

What documents are needed to obtain a Schengen visa?

Documents that you can attach to the application form:

• Trip plan (in English). Relevant when visiting several cities or countries.
• Tickets for transport within the Schengen zone.
• Tickets or invitations to events.
• A letter in free form with a request to issue you a multiple visa for a year (in English). This is relevant if you want a long visa, but are only submitting documents for your first trip.

About copies of documents

Some consulates and visa centers require a bunch more copies. At the same time, you can find out about this only when submitting documents. And if, for example, in Swedish visa center copying is free, in Italian it costs 25 rubles per sheet, and the Spaniards require a full copy of the foreign passport, old foreign passports and a copy of the civil passport. Quite often copies of previous visas are required.

In general, my advice to you: carefully read the requirements of the consulate and even if it doesn’t say anything about copies, make copies of the first page of your international passport and a copy of your civil passport: the first page, registration and stamp on the issue of a foreign passport. Not prevent.

Schengen visa application form

The questionnaire takes 4 A4 pages. You can download it from the visa center website. Double-sided printing is optional!

The application form must always be completed in capital letters, in blue or black pen, in English or in the language of the country in which you are applying for a visa.

You can fill out the form on-line or in a text editor, print and sign. This is exactly what I always do. Because my handwriting is terrible. :)

All applications for a Schengen visa are more or less the same. An example of filling out an application form for a Swedish visa.

In general, it is difficult to get confused in this questionnaire. The only question that always baffles me is “ 26. Schengen visas issued during the past three years"and a small field for an answer. How can I fit all the visas issued to me over the last 3 years in there, if there are five or six of them? All in all, clue: write here either your last Schengen visa or the last visa of the country to which you are submitting your application. Having visas issued by that country increases your chance of getting a long visa.

To the question “ 25. Duration of the intended stay or transit» Write 90 if you are requesting an annual visa.

What address should I indicate? The one where you live.

If some points in the questionnaire do not apply to you, you can put a dash in them. However, I have never done that.

Visa fees

Visa fees are paid differently at different consulates. Sometimes you need to pay it to a very specific bank and within a certain time frame. Sometimes the visa fee is accepted on the spot, and only in cash and only in rubles. This means that you first need to find out what exactly is required of you.

Where to submit documents?

There are two options: the consulate and the visa center.

If you are submitting documents at the visa center that you also pay 1.5-2 thousand rubles for the services of the visa center, which only consist of taking your documents to the consulate and bringing them back. Do not expect that they will tell you how to fill out the form or what documents to submit. This, of course, happens, but very rarely. If you want to receive a completed passport by courier, you will be charged additional money. If you need a copy of a document, they will charge you money, etc.

If you are submitting documents at the consulate, then you only pay the visa fee. Obviously, it is worth going to the consulate, but (!) the number of visitors that the consulate can receive is limited. Therefore, there will definitely be an appointment to submit documents and, possibly, a queue. Although some visa centers also have an appointment system.

November 2014

* I have highlighted the countries I have been to. Only at consulates Austria I have never received a visa from Poland. I visited both countries on a one-year Italian visa.

** Usually, on an annual Schengen visa, I spend 5-6 days in each country, so I apply for a visa in the country of first entry. But one day there was an embarrassment. I had to fly to Italy, and a month later to Spain, at the Italian visa center at that moment it was possible to sign up to submit documents only in a month, so I was not eligible for a visa. I went to the Belgians. True, I had to bring additional documents, such as an invitation to events in Italy and Spain from Hasbro Belgium. The girls at the visa center called the consul, explained the situation and accepted the documents, advising me to take a copy of the invitation with me, which was worth showing to the Italian customs officers if they had any questions. There were no questions, I was given a visa for a year, and I had to go to Belgium at the very end of its validity so that there was no violation of the visa regime.

*** I went to visit once. After all the ordeals with the invitation, I decided that it was easier to book a hotel.

**** Perhaps the German consulate is the only one of all that believes that you signed in blood an obligation to live in the exact hotel indicated in the visa application form. Fortunately, I never had to deal with the German consulate, but having received a visa in other countries, I changed hotels many times and never experienced any problems. Which is generally reasonable. If I'm not traveling to a specific event, my travel plans may change at the last second. For example, my just completed London-Stockholm trip suddenly became an Oxford-London trip. Stockholm, and I stayed in Oxford for two nights, although initially I didn’t plan to go there at all. In this case it was the UK, but in the Schengen countries I travel in the same style.