Who needs a Schengen visa?

Whether you need a visa for a short stay in the Schengen area depends on your nationality. Citizens of about 60 countries and territories, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, can enter without a visa. Citizens of most other countries must apply for a short-stay visa before they travel. In both cases the stay is limited to 90 days in any 180-day period.

The two groups

• Visa-exempt. Your country has a visa-free arrangement with the EU, so you can enter without applying in advance. You are still bound by the 90/180 rule, and once ETIAS starts you will need a travel authorisation before you travel.
• Visa required. You must apply for a short-stay visa at the consulate of the country you are visiting and have it when you cross the border. See Schengen visas for how to apply.

Neither group may work or study long term on a short stay. For that you need a national long-stay visa or residence permit from the country concerned.

The lists are set by EU law (Regulation (EU) 2018/1806) and change from time to time. The lists below are taken from the EU's official travel site and were checked on the date above. If your country is not where you expect, check the Commission's visa policy page before you travel.

Visa-exempt countries and territories

Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macao SAR, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Bahamas, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela.

Notes from the EU's lists:

• Nationals of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City are also visa-exempt.
• The exemption for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine applies to holders of biometric passports. Taiwan's applies to passports that include an identity card number. Hong Kong and Macao's apply to their SAR passports.
• Kosovo passport holders have been visa-exempt since 1 January 2024.
• The visa waiver for Vanuatu is suspended. The Commission's visa policy page says: "Currently the visa waiver agreement with Vanuatu has been suspended under the suspension mechanism."
• British citizens are visa-exempt. So are British Nationals (Overseas), British Overseas Territories Citizens, British Overseas Citizens, British Protected Persons and British Subjects, and the residents of the UK's overseas territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, South Georgia, the Turks and Caicos Islands and others).

Visa-required countries

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, The Gambia, Togo, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Airport transit visas

Some nationals need an airport transit visa even to change planes inside the international transit area of a Schengen airport. The Commission's page on applying for a visa links to the EU-wide list, and individual Schengen countries add their own. Holders of a valid Schengen visa, a residence permit from a Schengen country, or certain visas and permits from countries such as Canada, Japan and the United States are among the people exempt from this requirement (Article 3(5) of the Visa Code). Check with the consulate of the country whose airport you are transiting.

Family members of EU citizens

If you are a close family member of an EU citizen, such as a spouse, registered partner, dependent child under 21 or dependent parent, you have an easier route. The Commission says that family members covered by the Free Movement Directive "are eligible for a free and accelerated visa procedure". The details depend on whether you are joining your family member in their own country or in another Schengen country where they live, so ask the consulate of the country you are going to.

How Schengen Simple helps

Visa or no visa, the 90-day count is the same, and it runs across every Schengen country you visit. Schengen Simple keeps the count across your past and planned trips and shows how long you could stay from any date.