Immigration to Germany | HEUSER RECHT UND STEUERN
06 • www.heuser.de
Schengen
Visa
Signed on June 14th 1985,
the Schengen Agreement
established the largest free
travel area in the world. Except
the Republic of Ireland and
the United Kingdom every
member of the EU is part of
the Schengen Agreement.
Additionally, the non-EU
states of Iceland, Switzerland
and Norway signed the
Agreement as well.
A Schengen Visa can be very beneficial
for frequent travelers – even for business
purposes. There are various kinds of
Schengen Visas that can be acquired,
some more helpful than others.
The first one being the Uniform Schengen
Visa (USV). It allows the visa holder to
enter any of the member states for up to
90 days in a 180-day-period beginning
with the first entry. The period is ‘rolling’,
so whenever the holder wants to enter
a member state after the first entry, the
last 180 days are the referral period.
The USV has two subcategories: “A” and “C”.
An USV of the category “A” stands for
an Airport Transit Visa. It allows the visa
holder to enter the international transit
area at an airport of a member state but
not the state itself.
More interesting though is the USV of
the category “C”. It stands for a shortterm
visa either for single, double or
multiple entries. As the name suggests
the single-entry visa allows the holder to
enter the Schengen area once, meaning
the validity expires once the holder leaves
the Schengen area for the first time,
no matter how long the trip itself is. The
double-entry visa acts in the same way,
except two entries are allowed instead of
one. The multiple-entry visa (MEV) on the
other hand makes it possible to travel in
and out of the Schengen area as often as
needed as long as the 180-day-rule is
not violated.
The validity of a MEV varies from one
to five years depending on the purpose
of the trip. For one year of validity the
holder has to prove that he is a regular
traveler and additionally the need for a
1 year MEV. The first can be proven by
the possession of at least two doubleentry
visas obtained before applying for
the MEV. The second is highly depended
on the individual circumstances. If for
example the holder is working for a
company frequently closing deals with
companies in the Schengen area, the
need for said person to be present in
those countries regularly can be proven
by a letter by the employing company and
an according employment contract. The
same goes for the 3 and 5 year MEVs, with
according increasing strength of proof as
to why a visa of that length of validity is
needed.
Besides the USV there is also the Limited
Territorial Validity Visas (LTV) which limits
the possible entry state to the member
state that issued the visa or on rare
occasion one other member state. This
type of visa is very rarely issued and does
usually not concern a frequent traveler.