Planning to visit Europe? Pay 12% more for Schengen visa applications from June

Moreover, nationals of those countries who are not cooperating for readmission and are staying irregularly will have to pay a visa fee of €135 or €180, according to the report.

The new changes are expected to be announced by EU's commission in its official journal by the end of this week, the report said.

The Commission said the application fees has been hiked to offset the increase in inflation and salaries of the employees of the member states, the report said. The EU also said the fees can be revised every three years, and the last changes were made in February 2020.

Also read: Number of Indians holidaying in EU to rise, benefit friends-relatives segment more

The development comes at a time when the number of visa applications have seen a 36.3 percent jump in 2023 compared to 2022. However, the applications are yet to beat the pre-covid numbers, which stood at 16 million in 2019.

Last month, a new visa regime was adopted for India, which gives frequent Indian travelers access to multi-year visas for up to 5 years.

Under the new regime, Indian nationals can now be issued long-term multi-entry Schengen visas valid for two years after having obtained and lawfully used two visas within the previous three years.

During the validity period of these visas, Indians can enter and exit Schengen countries multiple times without the need for separate visas.

Countries covered under the Schengen visa

Once approved, Schengen visa allows travelers to visit 29 different European countries.

The visa covers the following countries: Iceland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Slovenia, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.