Schengen Visa Application 2026: How to Apply, the €90 Fee, Documents and Processing Time
A step-by-step guide to the short-stay Schengen visa in 2026 — which consulate handles you, the appointment and biometrics, the €90 fee, the documents you need, and the refusal reasons to avoid.
If your trip pairs a Himalayan trek with a leg in Europe — a few days in Paris, a wedding in Milan, a layover you want to turn into a proper visit — and you carry a passport that is not visa-exempt, you will need a Schengen visa before you fly. Nepali passport holders are in exactly that position: there is no visa-on-arrival for Europe, so the paperwork has to be done at home, in advance, and done properly. Here is how the short-stay (Type C) application actually works in 2026, what it costs, what documents you need, and why so many people get refused for avoidable reasons.
Schengen short-stay visa at a glance
- Fee: €90 per adult; €45 for children aged 6–12; free for children under 6
- Travel medical insurance: minimum €30,000 cover for emergency treatment and medical repatriation, valid across the whole Schengen area
- Processing time: a decision is normally due within 15 calendar days of a complete, admissible application
- Type C, short stay: up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period
- Apply at: the consulate or visa centre of your main destination — in person, for fingerprints and a photo
First: is a visa even the right document?
Do not confuse the three things travellers now mix up constantly. A Schengen visa is for nationalities that are not visa-exempt — Nepal, India, and most of South Asia among them. ETIAS, by contrast, is a travel authorisation for people who already enter Europe visa-free; it is not a visa and it does not replace one. And the 90-day ceiling is a stay limit, not a visa in itself — we explain how to count it in our guide to the Schengen 90/180-day rule. If you hold a Nepali passport, the visa is the document you need; ETIAS is irrelevant to you.
Which country's consulate do you apply to?
You do not get to pick freely. The rule is the country of your main destination — where you will spend the most nights. If your stay is split evenly with no clear main destination, you apply to the country of first entry. Applying to the "easy" consulate for a trip you will actually spend elsewhere is a classic reason for refusal, and border officers can and do check. Most consulates now outsource the intake to a visa centre such as VFS Global or TLScontact; you book there, submit documents there, and give your biometrics there, but the decision is always the consulate's.
The appointment and biometrics
You book an appointment online, attend in person, and provide fingerprints and a digital photo. First-time applicants almost always have to appear; if you have given biometrics for a Schengen visa in the last 59 months, they can sometimes be reused. Book early — in peak season, appointment slots at busy consulates disappear weeks ahead, and a missing slot, not a missing document, is what wrecks most timelines.
| Document | What it must show |
|---|---|
| Application form | Completed and signed; one per applicant |
| Passport | Valid at least 3 months beyond your planned departure, with two blank pages |
| Photo | Recent passport-standard biometric photograph |
| Travel medical insurance | Minimum €30,000, covering emergency care and repatriation for the whole trip |
| Proof of accommodation | Hotel bookings or an invitation for the full stay |
| Itinerary and transport | Return flight reservation and a day-by-day plan |
| Proof of funds | Recent bank statements showing you can support the trip |
| Ties to home | Employment or study letter, or evidence of business, to show you will return |
What it costs, and who pays less
The standard fee is €90 for adults, reduced to €45 for children aged six to eleven, and free for children under six. That is the consular fee only; the visa centre adds its own service charge on top, which varies by country and provider. Pay the official fee at the counter or through the official portal — never hand cash to a "fixer" who promises to speed things along.
How long it takes
A consulate must normally decide within 15 calendar days of receiving a complete, admissible application. In individual cases — when extra checks or additional documents are needed — it can take considerably longer, so treat 15 days as a best case, not a promise. The single biggest cause of delay is an incomplete file that has to bounce back to you. Assemble everything before you book, and give yourself a comfortable buffer before any non-refundable travel.
| Step | What to do | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pick the country | Identify your main destination or point of first entry | This decides which consulate handles you |
| 2. Gather documents | Insurance, bookings, funds, itinerary, ties to home | A complete file is what keeps you to 15 days |
| 3. Book the appointment | Through the official consulate or visa centre only | Slots vanish in peak season — book early |
| 4. Attend and give biometrics | Submit in person, pay the fee, fingerprints and photo | Keep your receipt and tracking number |
| 5. Wait and collect | Track the decision; collect the passport | Do not book non-refundable travel until issued |
Why applications get refused
Common refusal reasons
Most rejections come down to a handful of failures, not bad luck: insufficient proof of funds for the trip; weak ties to your home country, so the officer is not convinced you will return; an unclear or inconsistent itinerary; missing or inadequate travel insurance below the €30,000 floor; applying to the wrong country for your real itinerary; or being flagged as a possible threat to public policy, security or public health, or listed in the Schengen Information System. A refusal comes with a written reason and a right to appeal — read it before you reapply, because submitting the same weak file twice changes nothing.
Apply through official channels only
Search "Schengen visa" and you will hit a wall of lookalike sites charging premium fees to "assist" with an application you can lodge yourself. Some are simply overpriced; some are outright scams that harvest your documents. The only legitimate routes are the consulate of your destination country and its official visa centre (VFS Global, TLScontact or similar, named on the consulate's own website). Start from the consulate's official page, follow its link to the visa centre, and ignore everyone else. We take no commission and sell no visa service — this is simply how it is done.
Get the European leg sorted early, and the Nepal half is the easy part: most trekkers get a Nepali visa on arrival in Kathmandu. If a Himalayan trek is the anchor of your trip, our team can line up the dates and paperwork on this end — see our Everest Base Camp trek — while you handle the Schengen application at home. Plan both in the right order and the whole journey, Europe and Himalaya alike, comes together without a scramble.
Cover photo: Nataliya Vaitkevich via Pexels (Pexels License).
来源： European Commission — Migration and Home Affairs
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