The purpose of your travel determines the visa category:A Schengen visa is valid for: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Short-term visa (type C) is a visa for temporary stay in the territory of a state, in this case the Schengen territory, but not for more than 90 days per period of 180 days.
The visa can be single, two entries or multiple entries and entitles the holder to transit or enter the Schengen territory, respectively, one, two or unlimited number of times within the specified validity period of the visa.
The validity period may be from a few days (usually issued for the exact dates of travel) to several years, but the duration of the travel or the number of days of stay in the Schengen territory must not exceed 90 days per period of 180 days.
The application for a Schengen visa has to be made in the Consulate of the country where the main purpose of travel lies. In case you are planning to travel to multiple Schengen countries, please make your application to the Consulate where you are going to stay for a longer time. In the case you are visiting several Schengen countries and you are planning to stay in each of them the same number of days / nights, you should arrange a visa at the Consulate of the country of first entry.
Please be aware of the changes in counting of the days of the authorized stay within the Schengen area that took effect since 18 October 2013.
Legality of your stay within the Schengen area may be checked at any moment of your stay there (including at border crossing). The reference period of 180 days within which the foreigner can spend for up to 90 days in the Schengen area will be looked at backwards from each day of the stay (i.e. the calculation of stay will be done within 180 days preceding each day of stay).
When planning your future trip please follow these steps:
1. Look the reference period of 180 days (not 6 months!) from each day of your stay in the Schengen area backwards.
2. Calculate the summarized duration of previous stays (according to entrance/exit stamps in your passport(s) for each 180-days period.
3. Check whether these summarized durations do not exceed 90 in each 180-days period. If exceed, you have to change your trip plans and check again.
The European Commission puts at your disposal a calculation tool on the following link:
English
Español
Pусский