The Schengen Visa Fee, Explained: €90 Base Cost, Waivers & the VFS Charge
VCSureshotTravel · 29 Jul 2026 · 10 min read
TL;DR
The Schengen visa fee is €90 for adults since it rose from €80 on 11 June 2024. Children aged 6–11 pay €45; children under 6 pay nothing. Several categories — students and accompanying teachers on study trips, researchers, young people at non-profit events — are automatically exempt, and consulates can waive or reduce the fee case by case for other reasons. The fee is non-refundable once an application is examined, even if refused, with two narrow exceptions. It does not change for a longer-validity multiple-entry visa. If you apply through VFS Global, TLScontact or another outsourced centre, you also pay a separate service fee — normally capped at half the visa fee.
Key takeaways
The base fee is €90 for adults, €45 for children 6–11, free under 6 — set by EU law, the same at every Schengen consulate.
Students, accompanying teachers, researchers and some young non-profit delegates are automatically fee-exempt.
The fee is kept even if the visa is refused — refunds apply only to the wrong-consulate and incomplete-application cases.
The VFS/TLS service charge is a separate line item, not part of the EU-set visa fee.
You have the spreadsheet open. Flights, hotels, insurance, and one line at the bottom for the visa fee, copied off whichever page came up first. Then you get to the counter and the number is not the number you wrote down.
The fee is the one cost in a Schengen application that people budget for — and the one they most often get wrong. Not because it is hidden, but because what you pay at the application centre is two charges printed on one receipt, and because your age band, your travel purpose and the exchange rate on the day all move it.
Here is the short version. The consulate’s visa fee is €90 for an adult, €45 for a child aged 6 to below 12, and nothing under 6. On top of that, if you apply through VFS Global, TLScontact or a similar centre, sits a separate service charge — capped, normally at half the visa fee. Several categories pay nothing at all.
And the part worth reading twice before you press submit: none of it comes back if the visa is refused. The fee buys an examination of your file, not a visa. Get the file right first; the fee is the easy part.
The base fee: €90, since 11 June 2024
Article 16 of the Visa Code (Regulation (EC) No 810/2009) sets a single fee for a short-stay (Type C) Schengen visa application, charged at every consulate across the 29 Schengen countries. Under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1415 of 14 March 2024, that fee rose from €80 to €90 for adults, effective 11 June 2024 — the first revision since the fee was last set, reviewed on a three-year cycle against euro-area inflation and EU civil-service salary trends. Children aged 6 to below 12 pay €45, and children under 6 pay nothing. Applications submitted before 11 June 2024 were charged at the old rate; every application since has been charged €90.
The three fee bands set by Article 16 of the Visa Code — identical at every Schengen consulate.
Who doesn’t pay the fee
Beyond the under-6 waiver, the Visa Code lists categories that are automatically exempt from the fee: school pupils, undergraduates, postgraduates and their accompanying teachers travelling for study or training; researchers, as defined by EU Directive 2016/801, travelling to carry out a research activity or attend a scientific seminar or conference; and representatives of non-profit organisations aged 25 or under participating in seminars, conferences, sporting, cultural or educational events organised by non-profit organisations. Beyond that fixed list, consulates also have discretion to waive or reduce the fee case by case — the Visa Code allows this on cultural, sporting, foreign-policy, development-policy or other public-interest grounds, or on humanitarian grounds.
Beyond this fixed list, a consulate may still waive or reduce the fee at its own discretion for other public-interest or humanitarian reasons.
If the visa is refused, is the fee refunded?
No, as a general rule. Article 16(7) of the Visa Code states the fee is non-refundable except in the cases set out in Articles 18(2) and 19(3). In practice that means two situations: if the consulate receiving the application is not the one competent to examine it, the application and fee are returned to the applicant; and if the application is declared inadmissible on submission — typically for missing the minimum documents required — the fee is refunded and any biometric data already collected is destroyed. Outside those two situations, once an application has actually been examined, the fee is kept regardless of the outcome, including a refusal.
Only the first two outcomes return the fee. A visa refused after examination does not.
A longer-validity visa doesn’t cost extra
The fee set by Article 16 is the same whether the consulate issues a single-entry visa or a multiple-entry visa valid for 1, 2 or 5 years — there is no additional charge tied to validity length. This matters for anyone building toward the EU’s multiple-entry visa “cascade,” including the more favourable version the European Commission adopted for Indian nationals in 2024, which we cover separately in our multi-entry visa cascade explainer: qualifying for a longer-validity visa changes how long it lasts, never what it costs to apply.
The VFS/TLS service fee is a separate charge
Many Schengen consulates in India route visa intake through an external service provider — VFS Global, TLScontact or similar — rather than accepting applications directly. Article 17 of the Visa Code allows these centres to charge their own service fee on top of the consulate’s visa fee, for handling the application. That service fee is capped, normally at no more than half the visa fee — up to €45 now that the visa fee is €90 — though the Visa Code sets higher ceilings (up to €80 or €120) for specific circumstances the Commission has separately defined, such as centres operating under additional logistical constraints. The two charges appear as separate line items: the consulate fee goes to the state examining the application, and the service fee goes to the centre that handled the appointment and document intake.
Two separate charges at the same appointment — the visa fee is fixed EU-wide; the service fee is capped, not fixed.
Where the fee sits in the order of work
Pay it last, and prepare everything else first — because the fee is the only step that is irreversible. Work out which consulate is even yours before anything else, since applying at the wrong one is one of the two situations where the money comes back and also a wasted appointment slot: our main destination rule explainer settles that. Then assemble the file against the checklist on our visa requirements page, and read the full Schengen visa guide for how the application runs end to end. Book the appointment once flights, accommodation and insurance already agree on the same dates. The fee is the last thing you touch, not the first.
None of this changes whether a visa is granted: a correctly paid fee, or a valid waiver, only lets the consulate accept and examine an application. The decision itself always rests with the consulate.
Assembling the rest of your Schengen file?Verifiable flight reservation, hotel bookings for every night and €30,000 insurance — all with matching dates.
What people ask us once the Schengen fee is on the spreadsheet.
How much is the Schengen visa fee?
€90 for an adult short-stay (Type C) application. It rose from €80 on 11 June 2024 under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1415, which amended the amounts in Article 16 of the Visa Code. Children aged 6 to below 12 pay €45; children under 6 pay nothing.
Because the amount sits in EU law rather than in each country’s own rules, it is identical at every consulate across the 29 Schengen countries. France is not cheaper than Italy. What genuinely differs country to country is the application centre’s own charge — a separate line, covered below.
Set by Article 16 of the Visa Code — the same three bands at every Schengen consulate.
Is the VFS Global or TLScontact charge separate from the visa fee?
Separate, and this is where most budgets go wrong. Two different organisations are being paid at the same counter: the visa fee goes to the state that will examine your application, and the service charge goes to the outsourced centre that ran your appointment, took your biometrics and forwarded the file.
Article 17 of the Visa Code caps that service charge — normally at no more than half the visa fee, so up to €45 now the visa fee is €90 — with higher ceilings (up to €80 or €120) allowed in specific circumstances the Commission has separately defined. It is a ceiling, not a fixed price, which is exactly why totals quoted for different countries differ even though the visa fee never does.
Two charges, one appointment, one receipt. Only the left-hand number is set by EU law.
Do children pay the Schengen visa fee?
It turns on age, in three bands. Under 6: nothing — an automatic waiver written into Article 16(4). From 6 to below 12: €45, half the adult fee. From 12: the full €90, exactly as for an adult.
The detail families miss is which date the age is read against. It is the application, not the holiday. A child who turns 6 or 12 between the day you book the appointment and the day you attend it moves band, and the amount payable moves with them. If a birthday falls anywhere near your appointment window, that is a reason to look at the calendar before you look at the price list.
Check the appointment date, not the travel date. The fee band follows the child’s age when the application is lodged.
Who is exempt from the Schengen visa fee?
The Visa Code names categories that are exempt automatically — no negotiation, no discretion involved. Children under 6. School pupils, undergraduates, postgraduates and their accompanying teachers travelling for study or training. Researchers, as defined by EU Directive 2016/801, travelling to carry out a research activity or attend a scientific seminar or conference. And representatives of non-profit organisations aged 25 or under attending seminars, conferences, sporting, cultural or educational events organised by non-profit organisations.
Beyond that fixed list, a consulate may also waive or reduce the fee case by case — on cultural, sporting, foreign-policy, development-policy or other public-interest grounds, or on humanitarian grounds. Read the difference carefully: the first list is a right you document, the second is a decision someone else makes. If you fall in the first list, bring the paperwork that proves it (the enrolment letter, the invitation from the organising body) to the appointment, not afterwards.
These four are automatic. Anything else is discretionary — a consulate may reduce or waive, but is not obliged to.
Is the visa fee refunded if my application is refused?
No. Article 16(7) makes the fee non-refundable except in the cases set out in Articles 18(2) and 19(3) — and neither of those is a refusal. The first is where the consulate receiving the application is not the one competent to examine it, so the application and fee go back. The second is where the application is declared inadmissible on submission, typically for missing the minimum required documents; the fee is refunded and any biometric data already collected is destroyed.
Both exceptions share a shape: the file was never examined. Once it has been, the fee stays with the state whatever the decision. The practical consequence is a budgeting one — treat the fee as spent the moment you hand the file over, and put your effort into the file rather than into planning for a refund that is not coming.
The dividing line is whether the file was examined — not whether the answer was yes.
Do I have to pay the fee again if I reapply after a refusal?
Yes. The fee attaches to the application, not to the applicant, and what you paid on a refused application is not carried over or credited to the next one. A second attempt is a second fee, plus a second service charge, plus a second appointment.
Which is the whole argument for slowing down after a refusal. Read the refusal letter, identify the ground it cites, and fix that specific thing before rebooking. Resubmitting the same file a fortnight later, hoping for a different officer, is the most common way people spend the fee twice for one outcome.
The expensive reflex
Rebooking within days with essentially the same documents, on the theory that the first decision was bad luck. Same file, same gap, new fee.
The cheaper order
Take the refusal letter apart first, close the gap it names, then rebook once the corrected file is genuinely ready. One fee, spent on a file that has changed.
What currency is the fee paid in, and how do I pay it?
The Visa Code allows the fee to be charged in euro, in the national currency of the country where the application is lodged, or in the currency usually used there. So the figure you actually hand over is normally a local-currency conversion of €90, not €90 itself — published by the consulate or the application centre, and revised when the exchange rate moves.
That single fact explains most of the confusion online: two accurate pages written months apart will show two different local amounts for the same unchanged fee. Payment method is set locally too, so the instruction that binds you is the one on your own appointment confirmation. Keep the receipt — it is the proof the fee was paid, and it belongs with the file, not in your inbox.
€90 is the legal amount; the local figure is a conversion. Trust the consulate or centre’s own published amount on the day you pay, not a number quoted elsewhere.
Can I pay extra to get my Schengen visa faster?
Not through the visa fee. The amount in Article 16 is fixed by EU law and there is no official express tier that buys a faster decision from the consulate. If someone offers to sell you one, they are selling something that does not exist.
Application centres do sell optional extras — courier return of the passport, form filling, a premium lounge appointment. Those are real services and they can genuinely make the day easier, but read what they buy: convenience at the centre, not priority at the desk where the decision is made. The one lever that reliably buys time is the calendar. Apply early, because applications can be lodged well ahead of travel, and an early submission absorbs the delays a payment cannot.
What money cannot buy
A faster decision. The visa fee is fixed, and no add-on moves your file up the consulate’s queue.
What actually creates margin
Applying early in the permitted window, with a complete file, so a slow week at the consulate costs you nothing.
Why do quoted totals differ so much between websites?
Almost always one of four reasons, and none of them means the law changed. The page is still quoting €80, the pre-11 June 2024 figure. Or it is adding the service-centre charge to the visa fee and printing one combined total. Or it is converting to local currency at a different rate on a different day. Or it is bundling optional extras such as courier or premium services into the headline.
The fix is to insist on three separate numbers before you compare anything: consulate visa fee, service-centre charge, optional extras. Compared line by line, the confusion usually disappears — and the numbers that bind you are the ones on the consulate’s own page and your application centre’s own page, not on an aggregator.
Separate the three real components and most “conflicting” totals turn out to agree.
Does paying the fee guarantee my visa?
No, and it is worth being blunt about it. Paying the fee — or holding a valid exemption — only entitles your application to be accepted and examined. It buys the assessment. It does not buy the answer.
The decision rests entirely with the consulate, on the strength of what is in the file: purpose of travel, means, accommodation, insurance, and dates that agree with each other across every document. Nothing in the Visa Code lets a payment substitute for any of that, and anyone suggesting a fee or a fixer secures an outcome is describing a mechanism that does not exist.
The fee buys an examination, not a decision. Documents support an application; the consulate decides.