Good News for Travelers: EU Extends Multiple-Entry Schengen Visas for Indians | Details Here

New Delhi: According to a new press release put out by the European Union on Tuesday, the European Commission has adopted rules that would now allow Indian nationals to apply for a multiple-entry Schengen visa with longer validity under its ‘cascade’ regime. The Schengen area, comprised of 27 nations, allows visa-free travel for its members without any internal border controls. A Schengen visa allows travellers from non-Schengen countries to travel across all of the 27 countries that comprise the Schengen area without going through identity checks at individual borders. 

The most common type of Schengen visa, the short-stay visa, allows stays of no more than 90 days within a six-month period. 

As for what this ‘favourable’ visa regime is all about, the press release notes that Indians with an established travel history in the Schengen area will now have an easier time getting access to long-term, multiple-entry Schengen visas. Specifically, Indian nationals will be able to apply for a long-term, multiple-entry visa valid for two years so long as they have obtained and ‘lawfully’ used two visas within a three-year span. 

This two-year visa will then be followed up by a five-year Schengen visa if the passport has sufficient validity remaining. These visas, the release notes, will allow holders equal travel rights to visa-free nationals of the Schengen Area. However, the release also notes that these visas do not grant the right to work. 

The European Commission's decision on this new regime comes in the context of strengthened relations under the EU-India Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility. In a statement put on X, EU Ambassador to India, Herve Delphin, said that the new regime marks another step the EU has taken towards enhancing people-to-people contact with India, with the ambassador adding that Europe “delivers on the partnership!”