Hand in your documents
You must bring with you:
- a printout of the application form (schengen.pdf) received by email;
- the checklist and the documents listed.
- Your passport (must be valid for at least three months after your planned departure from the Schengen area)
- Photograph (must comply with international standards)
- Your travel health insurance policy
- You should be covered for at least EUR 30 000, including expenses in connection with repatriation for medical reasons, treatment in medical emergencies and/or emergency hospital treatment, and death
- Your insurance should be valid in all Schengen countries
- It should cover the whole of your planned stay in the Schengen area
- It should as a rule be purchased in your home country. If this is not possible it may be purchased in another country.
The application process will start once all the required documents have been submitted.
You should be able to find an appointment within 3 working days. If you - and any other applicants applying together with you - cannot find an available appointment (together), please contact VFS. The Consulate cannot book the appointments.
If you submitted your fingerprints to a Schengen country during the last 59 months and they can be retrieved and copied into the new application, you do not need to submit your fingerprints again.
If you gave your fingerprints more than 59 months ago, it is necessary to submit them again.
If you are unsure whether the fingerprints can be reused, you can request VFS to take your fingerprints again, even when you have submitted them during the last 59 months. The new fingerprints will then be stored for the following 59 months and can be reused in future applications.
If the consulate is unable to copy your fingerprints from a previous application, you must return to VFS to give your fingerprints again.
Children are required to provide fingerprints from the age of 12. It is the time of registration of the application at the Consulate which decides whether fingerprints are required or not, so if your 12th birthday is right after you submit your application, it is better to provide fingerprints, to avoid having to go back to VFS again.
Applications sent by mail/courier service are not accepted and will be returned without processing.
After receiving your application, VFS should give you a copy of one of the following documents:
Information to applicants in North America and the Caribbean