Visa policy

What is EU visa policy?

Under this key policy, all 29 countries in the Schengen area apply the same visa rules.

Non-EU nationals need a visa to enter the Schengen area for a visit of up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

When someone enters a country in the Schengen area, the 180-day period starts. They can enter Schengen area countries as many times as they want, but only stay for a total of 90 days, every 180 days.

A Schengen visa is generally valid for every country in the Schengen area.

Visas for stays exceeding 90 days are subject to national procedures.

EU visa policy is monitored and implemented by the European Commission.

In January 2026, the European Commission adopted its first-ever EU Visa Strategy. It sets out a framework for a visa policy that is more strategic and that advances the EU's long-term interests, allowing it to be better equipped for growing mobility as well as the consequences of regional instability and geopolitical competition.

What are the main elements of EU visa policy?

Countries whose nationals require a visa

For a list of these countries, see Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806.

Individual Schengen countries can grant visa-free access to certain categories of people - for example diplomatic staff, armed forces, refugees and school pupils on an excursion.

Countries whose nationals require a visa for airport transfers

Nationals of certain countries must have a visa - called an airport transit visa - even to simply transit through the international (non-Schengen) part of an EU airport.

Schengen countries can also impose individual airport transit requirements on certain other countries.

Countries whose nationals don't require a visa

For a list of these countries, see Annex II of the Regulation (EU) 2018/1806.

27 of these countries have visa waiver agreements with the EU.

The decision of whether to grant visa-free status to a non-EU country is based on a variety of criteria (migration, security, considerations of human rights, reciprocity, and economic benefit - in particular in terms of tourism and foreign trade).

Visa-exempt travellers will need to fill out an online ETIAS form and pay a small fee before being able to travel to the Schengen Area, six months after the full implementation of Entry/Exit system (EES).

This form is designed to facilitate border control and security.

It is not a visa, but is comparable to similar systems in the USA (ESTA), Canada (eTA), and Australia (eVisitor).

Visa code

The EU visa code sets out the procedures and conditions for issuing short-stay visas.

Operational instructions for applying the code are set out in:

The visa code also helps improve cooperation with non-EU countries on readmissions of irregular migrants, through the 'visa leverage mechanism'. Under this mechanism, if a country does not cooperate sufficiently on readmissions, restrictive measures can be imposed as regards processing visas and visa fees.

Such measures have been adopted for nationals of The Gambia:

Visa facilitation agreements with non-EU countries

The EU has visa facilitation agreements in place with certain non-EU countries. Under the simplified visa regime, non-EU citizens enjoy facilitated procedures (such as lower visa fees) to obtain a visa for the Schengen area.

Country	Visa facilitation agreement	Entry into force
Albania	Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Albania on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/01/2008
Armenia	Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/01/2014
Azerbaijan	Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/09/2014
Belarus	Agreement between the European Community and Belarus on the facilitation of the issuance of visas Council Decision on the partial suspension of the application of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Belarus on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/07/2020 12/11/2021
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Agreement between the European Community and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/01/2008
Cape Verde	Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Cape Verde on facilitating the issue of short-stay visas to citizens of the Republic of Cape Verde and of the European Union Council Decision (EU) 2021/1831 of 7 October 2021 on the conclusion on behalf of the Union of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Cape Verde amending the Agreement on facilitating the issue of short-stay visas to citizens of the Republic of Cape Verde and of the European Union	01/12/2014 07/10/2021
Georgia	Agreement between the European Union and Georgia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/03/2011
Moldova	Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Moldova (amending the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Moldova on the facilitation of the issuance of visas)	01/07/2013 01/01/2008
Montenegro	Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Montenegro on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/01/2008
North Macedonia	Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of North Macedonia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/01/2008
Russian Federation	Agreement between the European Community and the Russian Federation on the facilitation of the issuance of visas Council Decision (EU) 2022/1500 on the suspension in whole of the application of the Agreement between the European Community and the Russian Federation on the facilitation of the issuance of visas to the citizens of the European Union and the Russian Federation	01/06/2007 09/09/2022
Serbia	Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Serbia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas	01/01/2008
Ukraine	Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine (amending the Agreement between the European Community and Ukraine on the facilitation of the issuance of visas)	01/07/2013 01/07/2013

However, visa facilitation agreements can be suspended if a countryno longer satisfies the conditions of the agreement. What then applies are the general rules of the EU visa code.

Suspensions can be triggered by an EU country or by the European Commission. Currently, 2 agreements are suspended, those with:

Russia (full suspension of facilitation agreement)
Belarus (partial suspension of facilitation agreement).

Visa facilitation agreements are linked to readmission agreements. Readmission agreements establish procedures for returning irregular migrants to the EU or non-EU country they came from (EU, non-EU nationals or stateless persons).

EU countries may also individually negotiate agreements on local bordertraffic with neighbouring non-EU countries. These agreements enable border residents of specific areas to cross the EU's external borders, under certain conditions, without having to obtain a visa.

Suspension of visa-free travel

Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, sets out the EU’s visa suspension mechanism. It allows the temporary suspension of visa-free travel to the Schengen area for nationals of a third country when visa-free travel is abused or works against EU interests.

The mechanism may be triggered by a Member State notification or by the Commission. Grounds include substantial increases in irregular migration, refused entries, unfounded asylum applications, lack of alignment with EU visa policy, operation of an investor citizenship scheme, or a deterioration in the Union's external relations with a third country listed in Annex II, including due to human rights violations.

Suspension can initially last up to 12 months and may be extended for a further 24 months. During this period, the EU engages with the third country to address the issues and may apply the suspension in a targeted way, for example to government officials or diplomats.

Currently the visa waiver agreement with Vanuatu has been suspended under the suspension mechanism.

The European Commission has suspended visa-free travel for Georgian holders of diplomatic, service, and official passports, effective from March 6, 2026, until March 6, 2027.

Since 2017, the Commission has been issuing annual reports on its usage of the mechanism.

Visa reciprocity

This is when nationals of Schengen area countries do not need a visa to visit countries whose nationals also do not need a visa to visit the Schengen area.

The EU aims at achieving full visa reciprocity with non-EU countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa requirement. For that purpose, a visa reciprocity mechanism is set out in Regulation No 1806/2018 (article 7).

To date, the EU has achieved visa reciprocity with all visa-free third countries, except the United States.

Citizens of Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania still need a visa to visit the United States.

Visa digitalisation

The Pact on Migration and Asylum set the objective of making the visa procedure fully digitalised by 2025.

This involves:

replacing the visa sticker with the option to apply through a European online visa platform
simplifying the visa application process
reducing the costs for governments and applicants.

The requirements are set out in Regulation 2023/2685 and Regulation 2023/2667.

After a transition period of 7 years, Schengen countries will all have to use the EU's standard online platform for visa applications:

applicants will carry out all steps in the process on the platform, except for providing biometrics (when required)
a digital visa will replace the visa sticker.