A visa is a document granted to a foreign individual or traveler to enter or visit a specific sovereign state. The visa also indicates the purpose and duration of the visit. Several visas are available, but we will be discussing the Schengen short stay and tourist visas.
What is a Tourist and short stay Visa?
A Short stay visa is a visa that allows the bearer or holder of the visa is to be within the sovereign state for a short, specified period. This is usually not more than 90 days (three months).
If the individual wishes to stay in the sovereign state beyond this specified spell, the individual would have to apply to be issued another visa. Several visas fall under this category, and the Tourist visa is one of them.
A tourist visa is a type of visa granted to individuals for the sole purpose of leisure travel/tourism. This visa does not include conducting business or commercial activities within the sovereign state throughout the individual stay.
How to apply for a Schengen Visas
This is a comprehensive Schengen short stay visa country list to help you apply for a short stay visa to the Schengen region.
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
Toed a Schengen short stay visa, the individual would first have to apply to the sovereign state the individual intends to travel to. The waiting spell for the issuing of a Schengen visa is within 15 working days. The individual should also apply for this visa within three months of the planned trip. These sovereign states have some requirements that must be met to be successfully granted a short-stay visa. These requirements are:
- A fully and correctly signed visa application document
- Recent color passport photographs
- A valid international passport
- A travel insurance policy that covers the individual’s health care for the entire duration of his trip.
- The applicant’s travel itinerary.
- Proof of funds or assets. This is to determine the individual ability to fending for himself for the entire duration of the trip. Proof includes a bank statement showing that the individual has the requisite funds. Sponsorship letters will suffice in lieu.
- Proof of payment of the visa fees.
In the case of minors (less than 18 years) making a trip, some additional documents would be:
- The birth certificate belonging to the individual
- Copies of the individual’s Identification Card
- An application document has to have been signed by the parents/guardians
Easiest sovereign states to apply for a short-stay visa
Among these sovereign states, some sovereign states issue short stay/tourism visas far easily and have a higher issuance rate than other sovereign states. The sovereign states which are easiest to apply for a short stay visa are:
- Lithuania:
Lithuania is among the easiest sovereign state to get a Schengen short stay visa. They also have the shortest waiting spell to make appointments for a visa. Their application success rate is 98.7 %, which means that only 1.3% of applications are rejected.
- Estonia:
This sovereign state is the second easiest sovereign state to apply for a short stay/tourism visa. Their application success rate is also very high, also because it is a less fancied tourist attraction for travelers. Their rate of visa application success is 98.4%.
- Finland:
The visa application success rate of this sovereign state stands at 98.3%.
- Iceland:
This sovereign state received the least amount of Schengen short stay visa applications last year, but it also has a very high success rate of 98.3%.
- Latvia:
They have a visa application success rate of 97.9%, which is extremely high.
- Poland:
Chances are, if the individual applies for a Schengen short stay tourist visa from Poland, provided the individual meets their requirements, the individual will likely obtain a visa as their rate also stands at 97%.
- Slovakia:
The sovereign state of Slovakia only rejects about 4.2% of their visa applications, meaning a whopping 95.8% chance of being issued a visa.
- Czech Republic:
The Czech Republic has a 95.3 % success rate for short stay visa applications.
- Greece:
Greece is an attractive tourist destination that accepts about 95.1% of its applications, making it an attractive prospect for tourists/travelers.
Visa Fees
To apply for a visa to any of these countries, the individual would have to pay a visa application fee. The visa application fee is non-refundable and is paid every time the individual wishes to apply for a short stay (Schengen) visa to any of these nations. The visa fee could be paid in cash to the embassy or through a credit or debit card, although some embassies might not accept payment by credit or debit cards (They accept only cash). As of last year (2020), the fees are as follows:
| Category | Fee (Euros) | Fee (US Dollars) |
| Children ( younger than 6 years) | free | free |
| Children (6 years and above) | 40 | 45 |
| Adult | 80 | 90 |
| Holders of diplomatic passports visiting for official reasons | free | free |
| Researchers traveling for scientific research | free | free |
In addition to this, individuals below 25 years who participate in events, seminars, or conferences organized by a non-profit organization within the sovereign state might not have to pay a visa application fee.
Visa applications for short term (Schengen)/ Tourism visa
As of 2019, there over 15 million Schengen visas were issued. These were as follows:
| Sovereign state | Visas applied for | Visas issued |
| France | 3,980,989 | 3,291,128 |
| Germany | 2,171,309 | 1,916,408 |
| Italy | 2,053,521 | 1,892,648 |
| Spain | 1,912,500 | 1,668,171 |
| Finland | 895,775 | 875,356 |
| Greece | 880,892 | 827,291 |
| Czech Republic | 739,818 | 699,088 |
| Netherlands | 739,248 | 630,181 |
| Switzerland | 611,598 | 529,906 |
| Poland | 454,026 | 437,420 |
| Lithuania | 359,484 | 354,166 |
| Austria | 323,262 | 306,458 |
| Portugal | 297,236 | 235,897 |
| Sweden | 275,239 | 227,717 |
| Hungary | 237,851 | 217,108 |
| Belgium | 248,021 | 190,222 |
| Norway | 178,532 | 165,973 |
| Latvia | 167,743 | 163,229 |
| Denmark | 165,191 | 148,145 |
| Estonia | 145,711 | 143,582 |
| Malta | 34,765 | 27,701 |
| Slovakia | 25,202 | 23,504 |
| Slovenia | 27,722 | 21,685 |
| Iceland | 18,183 | 18,020 |
| Luxembourg | 11,723 | 11,251 |
| Total | 16,955,541 | 15,022,255 |
Reasons for short stay visa application rejection
Although the rate of visa approvals in these sovereign states is relatively high, the individual would still have to follow all the laid down rules, regulations, and procedures to experience stress-free visa approval. One or more of these reasons could cause most of these sovereign states to reject or withdraw the individual visa application or the individual visa altogether where:
- They find out that the applying individual has knowingly committed fraud or deception on the application, whether past or present.
- The applying individual has a felony record or if he has outstanding warrants, or awaiting felony charges.
- In one form or the other, the applying individual is a threat to the security of the nation (national security threat).
- Interviewers determine that the applicant does not have a good moral character or a set definition of right and wrong.
- The applying individual seems not to have any plans of coming or returning to his/her home country after the duration of the visa.
- The applying individual does not prove adequate means of survival or financial support while in the sovereign state.
- The individual does not possess standard medical insurance.
- The applying individual does not show adequate accommodation, travel, and living arrangements in the destination sovereign state.
- The applying individual is a national of another sovereign state; feuding or enmity exists between the destination sovereign state and the nation of the individual.
- The applying individual has an easily communicable and transferable disease (STD’s are included)
- The individual’s passport expires in less than three months after the visa issuance.