Schengen Visa Types according to the purpose of travel

When an applicant fills the Schengen Visa application form, he or she will also have to choose a goal of why he or she is applying to enter the Schengen territory. Following finding these goals, and an explanation on what each of them stands for:

Airport Transit – this purpose of entry is for people who want to travel through the global zone of a Schengen Country Airport without joining the Schengen Country. The Schengen countries have created a very narrow list of countries the nationals of which need to be the possession of this visa. Some of the member countries have added new other countries in their list. Despite the fact that to transit in some states you may not need a visa, depending on your origin you might need it in others.

Transit – Often foreign seafarers, who only need to stop for very short-term periods by the port of one of the member countries, check this purpose of travel in their application form.

Tourism – one of the most popular purposes of travelling to the Schengen Zone. People who are thinking to visit any of the countries in this territory for sightseeing and experiencing their culture, architecture, foods and much more, should select this idea of travelling in their application form.

Visiting Family or Friends – people who have family members or friends lawfully living in the Schengen area can apply for this visa if they want to visit them. There are some special requirements for this visa that the applicant must fulfil for the application to be successful, like i.e. a letter of invitation.

Business – a lot of people travel often to and from the Schengen countries for business purposes. The perks of applying for such a visa are common, as i.e. being able to get a faster appointment during the peak season of visa applications when there is a high amount of people applying.

Official Visit – you will have to tick “Official Visit” in your petition form if you are travelling to the Schengen Area on official duty. You will have to check this visa purpose even if you are travelling concurrently with a large delegation with the same travel dates and official purpose.

Medical reasons – If you are travelling to any of the member countries of the Schengen area to seek medical treatment, you should select ‘medical reasons’ in your petition. This visa allows immigrants to get the medical care they require at any medical clinic or hospital for a duration of three months within 180 days.

Study Purposes – pupils and students that wish to visit any type of educational institutions, like university courses, language courses and other, for a time shorter than three months, can apply for a Schengen study visa. Those who need to take an entrance exam for school or university in the Schengen Area should also tick this visa purpose.

Cultural, Sports and Film Crews – a visa established for people living outside of the Schengen area, wishing to travel to Europe for the purpose of attending a Cultural / Sports / Religious Event and Film Crews. The applicant should be part of the event, as i.e. a performer at a concert, or a writer presenting their book at a book fair, and not only the audience.

Other – If your purpose of the entrance to the Schengen Area seems not match any of the purposes given above, you will have to tick the “Other” option in the application form. However, you will still need to specify what the reason behind your application is. You will have the chance to do so in a short simple sentence, at most. I.e. if wish to enter any of the member states to attend a religious event or something similar, you can write “Religious Visit” or “Religious Purposes”.

Top EU Visa types

Single-entry visa
A single-entry visa permits its holder to join the Schengen Area only one time, for the given time, as specified in the visa sticker attached to their passport. Once the visa holder exits the Schengen area, the immigrant can no longer go back, even if they have not spent there the number of days as allowed by the embassy that assigned them the visa.

Some people confuse the single-entry visa, considering that it is regarding the number of countries the visa holder is permitted to visit and that it allows them to enter one particular country. The area you are allowed to visit is given close to the “Valid for” tag in your visa sticker, whereas the time you are allowed to stay is given near to the “Number of entries” tag.

Double-entry visa
A double-entry visa involves the same way as the single-entry visa described earlier. The main difference between a single-entry and a double-entry visa is that the second allows going once more back to the Schengen area once you have left it.

You should be very careful not to pass the number of days you are allowed to stay in the Schengen area, as well as the time within which you can spend those days in the EU. Do not mix the “double-entry” tag with the number of countries you are allowed to access and settle within the given time.

When you leave the Schengen Area for the second time, you no longer have the freedom to go back, even if you did not use all of the days you were allowed to live there. If you have got a double-entry visa more than one time, and you are a regular traveller to the Schengen area, you are more likely to be given with a multiple-entry visa, as described later.

Multiple-entry visa
A multiple-entry visa enables its owner to go in and out of the Schengen zone as many times as holder wants, as soon as they do not break the 90/180 rule.

Based on how regularly you travel to the Schengen area, you can apply and obtain one of the following multiple-entry visa varieties:

• 1-year multiple-entry visa
• 3-year multiple-entry visa
• 5-year multiple-entry visa
• 1-year multiple-entry Schengen visa