Schengen visa validity dates: what they are

After the fall of the "iron curtain" to Russians and citizens of other CIS countries, it seemed to be easier to travel around Europe. They can go abroad for different things. Someone goes to do business, someone goes on a business trip, someone wants to visit all sorts of exhibitions. They go to study and be treated, to visit friends, friends and close people. All these types of trips abroad are determined by a special type of entry permit. It is called a Schengen visa, which can be of different types. The duration of the Schengen visa depends on its category.

The categories of these permits for entry into European countries are divided into four large groups. They are denoted by the Latin letters A, B, C and D. Each of them has its own subcategories. Schengen visa validity dates are determined by both larger and smaller subspecies of these types. Consider them in order.

Visas of categories A and B have the shortest duration. This is the so-called transit permit. It is issued in the event that you need to get into some other country for which a Schengen visa is not needed at all. In what cases is this happening? This happens when, in order to enter there, you must cross the territory of any European country entering the Schengen Agreement (B). Or you have to make a transfer at the airport of such a state (A). The validity of a Schengen visa of this type is five days.

There are short-term entry permits. They are designated by the letter C and numbers 1, 2 or 3. The number one is given to one-time visas. They are often called tourist. Terms of the Schengen visa C1 - no more than thirty days. They also do not give the right to leave the territory of the country (or Schengen zone) several times during this month (or shorter period ) and return there. The number two, three and four denote visas of this type, which give the opportunity to stay in the country for up to ninety days. In their term of validity, they contain the notion of a "corridor". This means that the entry permit for this category with number 2 allows the person who received it to enter the territory of the country or the entire zone, and leave it for six months. A visa with the number 3 gives the same privilege throughout the year, and with a "four" - from two to five years.

However, there is one "but" here. The terms of the Schengen visa as a six-month, an annual and a "multi-year", in fact, allow you to be in the zone of its application no more than ninety days. In other words, you can go there several times and go home. But to stay in the country have the right not more than three months in aggregate for a visa C2, not more than six for C3 and so on. And in the latter case, the period of stay in the Schengen zone should be 3 months in one half year and three in the second. With a multi-year visa - no more than ninety days every six months. At the same time, you can travel to all countries of this zone.

Permit for entry of type D is called long-term. Even such visas are called national. Stay in this country is usually issued for a year, but in other countries of the zone you can only transit, and that is not always the case. As for such a circumstance, as the terms of obtaining a Schengen visa, the minimum term for which such a permit can be issued is five working days.