How to get a multi-year Schengen visa on your Indian passport

There's good news for Indian passport holders who want to visit Europe this year on. The European Union is looking to ease Schengen visa processes for Indian tourists.

In a press release on April 22, the European Commission announced a new visa 'cascade' regime for India, which allows frequent travellers to apply for a multiple-entry multi-year Schengen visa.

What it means

• If you are a frequent traveller to the Schengen area, you can apply for a multiple-entry multi-year visa
• This new visa ‘cascade’ regime will provide easier access to visas with multi-year validity
• The cascade regime is for Indian travellers with an established travel history
• Your passport should not expire before the multi-year Schengen visa

How can you get a multple-entry multi-year Schengen visa?

• You can apply for a two-year multiple-entry visa if you have obtained and used two Schengen visas within the previous three years
• This two-year visa will then be followed by a five-year visa if your passport validity allows it
• While your Schengen visa is valid, you can visit the area with the same travel rights as visa-free nationals

What does your multiple-entry multi-year Schengen visa allow?

• This visa will let you visit and stay in the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days in a 180-day period
• This visa is not purpose-bound
• However, the Schengen visa does not give you the right to work in the EU

Which all countries can you visit with the multi-year Schengen visa?

• The visa allows free travel and movement within the Schengen area, which comprises a total of 29 European countries
• Out of these 29, 25 are EU states

Here are the countries you can visit with this Schengen visa:

1. Belgium
2. Bulgaria
3. Croatia
4. Czech Republic
5. Denmark
6. Germany
7. Estonia
8. Greece
9. Spain
10. France
11. Italy
12. Latvia
13. Lithuania
14. Luxembourg
15. Hungary
16. Malta
17. The Netherlands
18. Austria
19. Poland
20. Portugal
21. Romania
22. Slovenia
23. Slovakia
24. Finland
25. Sweden, along with
26. Iceland
27. Liechtenstein
28. Norway
29. Switzerland

Indian tourists to Europe

Europe consistently ranks among the top choices for Indian tourists, with a staggering 2.34 million visitors in 2022 alone.

Before the Covid pandemic, in 2019, India accounted for 4.05 million visitors to Europe, according to Statista.

Schengen woes

Any Indian who has had to go through the process of applying for a Schengen visa will tell you that it is not easy by any stretch of imagination.

The visa requires first finding yourself a slot on the VFS website, which is infamous for crashing due to the sheer web traffic that it receives every day.

Once you have an appointment slot, you need to get several documents in order, from adequate financial proof to a no-objection certificate from your employer if you are a working professional. Your travel history matters, as does your history of previous visa rejections.

Once all the documentation is in order, your visa application reaches the respective embassy of the country you are applying for a visa for.

However, in the last few years, several people have taken to social media to voice their disappointment at being rejected a Schengen visa for, what they termed, 'frivolous reasons'.

Hope, going ahead

The new visa regime promises to be more favourable to Indians than the standard Visa Code in place so far.

The new visa decision comes in the context of strengthened relations under the EU-India Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility. This Common Agenda seeks comprehensive cooperation on migration policy between the EU and India.

Facilitation of people-to-people contacts is a key aspect due to the importance of India as a partner for the EU, the press release mentioned.

With the new 'cascade' visa system in place, it looks like frequent travellers to Europe will have one less thing to worry about.