Schengen multiple visa - what does it mean and how is it different? It allows multiple visits to a number of countries over a certain number of days over a six-month period. The rules for the first entry into Schengen and the main country remain the same. Based on the purpose of your stay in a particular state, you can apply for a tourist or business visa. Depending on the validity period, this document can be six-monthly, annual or five-year.

Feasibility of obtaining

A Schengen visa marked “multiple” is most often necessary for people who study or work in one of the countries. Also, entry through it is good for those who have real estate or relatives in the Schengen zone. Today, the Schengen zone, into which you can travel with a multiple visa, includes 25 different countries. And yet, before receiving this document, you should think carefully about whether it is really necessary.

The first thing you need to pay attention to is the fact that the largest number of days will need to be spent in the country to which the Schengen visa was issued.
The same requirements apply when obtaining a single-entry visa.

Another aspect, if, for example, you are a tourist and have visited the states of the Schengen zone on your multiple visa only a couple of times, then subsequently you may be refused to receive this document, marked “visa”. In addition, its cost is higher than that of a single-use one.


Rules for using a multiple visa

If during your trip a tourist plans to visit several countries, the stay in which will take approximately the same amount of time, then you should carefully read the order of visiting them and select the desired country where you will enter.

If the rule of first entry was nevertheless violated, then the next time, in order to obtain a document for entry into the countries included in the agreement, it will be necessary to submit an application to the embassy of a completely different country.

"Primary country" rule. It applies to short-term documents, be it a single-entry visa or a Schengen multiple visa. Everything is easy here; the main country is considered to be the country where a person plans to spend the most time.

To accurately determine this country, you need to very carefully calculate the number of days that you plan to spend visiting a particular state. And it is precisely the place where you get the most days that will be considered the main country for entry into Schengen. Holders of multiple Schengen visas should also count their trips to other countries. The majority must be at the location where the document was received.

A mistake when entering the wrong territory may cost you permission to obtain a multiple Schengen visa specifically for this country, but not for another. So, violating the main first place of stay rule will not completely bar entry into Europe.

The length of stay in this territory is important. If previously it was possible to spend the allowable period of 3 months for six months, and then, having opened a new Schengen visa, stay for the same amount of time, combining both periods of stay in the Schengen zone, but now this will not be possible.

Every six months of first entry into this zone for each person is now counted individually. And this calculation is carried out backwards, and not forward as before. That is, after crossing the border for the first time, you can stay in Schengen for a total of 3 months. If this period is used at one time, for example summer holidays, then access to the Schengen area will not be available for the next 90 days.

Special convenient calculators have already appeared on the websites of many European embassies, with which you can calculate the exact number of days.

At first glance, it may seem that the rules for using the Schengen multiple visa are not strictly monitored by border services. However, this is a misconception, and their compliance is monitored quite strictly.


How to get a multiple visa

To obtain a multiple visa, the following documents are required: foreign passport, travel document, medical certificate. insurance, application form in two languages.

The cost of a multiple Schengen visa is higher than that of a single entry document. Also, its cost is affected by the validity period of the visa, and, of course, the country where the request is made.

The mark indicating that a Schengen multivisa is open looks like “MULT” in the “number of entries” field.