The European Commission is preparing a major review of the Schengen Visa Code, publishing a call for evidence on September 8, 2026. The reform translates elements of the EU’s January 2026 visa strategy into law, with a legislative proposal expected between January and March 2027 though the Commission cautions both the policy options and timeline could still change.
The most notable change under consideration is an additional harmonized fee on top of the existing Schengen visa charge, collected at EU level to help fund the bloc’s common visa policy. No amount has been proposed, so no new fee has been formally decided. The current fee €90 for adults and €45 for children aged 6–11, has applied since June 2024 and remains unchanged for now.
The reform also aims to ease travel for trusted business travellers, allowing common lists of verified companies whose employees could get faster processing, priority appointments and fewer required documents. Separately, the EU wants more flexibility to suspend, restrict or reject certain visa categories when a non-EU country’s political or security situation seriously deteriorates such as hybrid threats, sabotage or migration being used as leverage with safeguards for journalists, dissidents and humanitarian cases.
The review also ties into the EU’s digitalisation of Schengen visa processing. Demand remains strong: over 12 million applications were received in 2025 (up 4.3%), with nearly 10.3 million visas issued, still below the 17 million applications recorded in 2019. China, Turkey and India were the top applicant countries.
Until the new rules take effect, current fees and procedures remain unchanged.
