Before you apply

• You should apply well in advance and as a rule no later than 15 days before you plan to travel. Due to the courier sending of documents in some countries, we recommend that you apply at least 4 weeks prior to your planned departure.
• You may submit your application up to six months before your planned departure, or up to nine months for seafarers.
• We recommend that you do not buy your ticket until a visa has been granted.
• You must register your application online before you can hand in the required documentation.
• When you hand in your application, you will be asked to provide fingerprints, unless your fingerprints have been collected within the last 59 months.
• Travel to Svalbard requires you to apply for two or more entries.

Family members of EU/EEA nationals
You may be entitled to an accelerated visa procedure free of charge if you meet the following criteria:

• you are a family member of an European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) citizen; and
• that EU/EEA citizen is travelling to or is residing in a member state other than that of which he/she is a citizen; and
• you are accompanying the EU/EEA citizen or planning to join him/her in the Schengen State of destination.

If you think you are entitled to an accelerated visa procedure you will need to show proof that you meet these criteria when you submit your visa application. For more information, please click here.

Admissibility of a Schengen visa application
In order for your application to be deemed admissible, you must:

• lodge your application no later than 15 calendar days before the start of the intended visit. In justified individual cases of urgency, the embassy may allow the lodging of applications later than 15 calendar days before the start of the intended visit.
• present an application form in accordance with Article 11 of the Visa code;
• present a travel document in accordance with Article 12 of the Visa code;
• present a photograph in accordance with the standards set out in Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 or, where the VIS is operational pursuant to Article 48 of the VIS Regulation, in accordance with the standards set out in Article 13 of the Visa Code;
• provide your biometric data (fingerprints and digital photo);
• pay the visa fee, (if applicable)

If the above-mentioned conditions have not been fulfilled, the application shall be inadmissible, and the Embassy will without delay: 

• return the application form and any documents submitted by the applicant,
• destroy the collected biometric data,
• reimburse the visa fee, and
• not examine the application.

Collection of biometric data
If you are applying for a Schengen visa for the first time, you are required to appear in person to submit your application for the collection of biometric data. The following biometric identifiers shall be collected:

• a photograph, scanned or taken at the time of application,
• 10 fingerprints taken flat and collected digitally.

If your fingerprints have been collected within the previous 59 months, you do not have to provide your fingerprints again when submitting a new application. Kindly indicate in the application form when you last had your fingerprints taken. If you do not remember when you last provided your fingerprints, we recommend that your fingerprints be collected again, as in the event that your fingerprints have not been registered in the Visa Information System (VIS), or that the quality of the fingerprints previously provided is not adequate, you will have to return to the application center for your fingerprints to be retaken.  

The following applicants shall be exempt from the requirement to give fingerprints:

(a) children under the age of 12;

(b) persons for whom fingerprinting is physically impossible. However, should the impossibility be temporary, the applicant shall be required to give the fingerprints at the following application.

(c) heads of State or government and members of a national government with accompanying spouses, and the members of their official delegation when they are invited by Member States’ governments or by international organisations for an official purpose;

(d) sovereigns and other senior members of a royal family, when they are invited by Member States’ governments or by international organisations for an official purpose.

Schengen consultation
Some Schengen States require that they be consulted on visa applications submitted to other Schengen States by citizens of certain countries. The consultation process may take up to seven calendar days. Such consultation is currently required for nationals of the countries listed here. 

The Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi cannot guarantee that applications submitted at short notice will be processed on time (i.e. less than 15 days).

The Embassy will assess and make the decision on the visa application. The VFS is not involved in the decision making process.

Multiple entry visas
A Schengen visa is generally issued for a single entry. If the applicant plans to travel outside the Schengen area and return within the period of the visa, the box for “Two entries” or “Multiple entries” must be ticked off in the visa application form. The applicant should also document why two or more entries are required. The Embassy will then assess if there is a genuine need for a multiple entry visa.

If only one entry is required, and this is your first trip to Norway and/or the Schengen area, we encourage you to apply for a "single entry" visa. 

Multiple entry visas with a validity from 1 to 5 years
Frequent travellers with a positive visa history can to be granted multiple-entry visa with a gradually increasing validity period from 1 year to a maximum of 5 years.

Travellers' fulfilment of entry conditions will be thoroughly and repeatedly verified in all cases, and only persons with a positive visa track record will be issued multiple-entry visas with a long validity.

Provided that the applicant fulfils the entry conditions, multiple-entry visas with a long validity shall be issued for the following validity periods, unless the validity of the visa would exceed that of the travel document:

• for a validity period of one year, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used three visas within the previous two years;
• for a validity period of two years, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used a previous multiple-entry visa valid for one year within the previous two years;
• for a validity period of five years, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used a previous multiple-entry visa valid for two years within the previous three years.

Multiple-entry visas allow the holder to travel repeatedly to the Schengen area during the period of validity of the visa. Please be informed that even with a multiple-entry visa with a validity from 1 to 5 years, the applicant cannot stay in the Schengen area more than 90 days within any 180 day period.