[Country Compliance] How to Secure a Year-Long Schengen Visa: What, why and plans!
Here’s how I got a year-long Schengen visa after obtaining only two Schengen visas in the past year. You can get a year-long one after applying for your three Schengen visas in the past two years of travel. So this was unexpected.
The Numbers don’t lie
Statistically, Indian citizens are among the top applicants for Schengen visas globally. In 2023, Indians filed 966,687 Schengen visa applications, representing a 43.87% increase compared to 2022. This accounted for 9.39% of all global Schengen visa requests.
Out of the total applications by Indians in 2023, approximately 151,752 were rejected, resulting in a rejection rate of 15.70%. This highlights the importance of submitting complete and accurate documentation.
Indian applicants spent approximately €77 million on Schengen visa fees in 2023, with €12 million lost due to rejected applications. Safe to say, let’s not get your application rejected at the very least.
Year Long Schengen Visas
Schengen visa applications are a competitive sport in India.
Vipul Gupta (2024)
Schengen visa is widely documented by Reddit posts, official articles, and YouTube videos.
The process is straightforward but arduous when done multiple times over. Several aspects of the application can be amended to make your case stronger or appeal for special dispensation. One of those cases is getting a year-long Schengen visa.
I am a contractor working in India for a foreign company. My past visits to the Schengen area were tourism/business-related. Attending conferences or heading to a offsite. For my recent application, I decided to request for a longer duration visa. To my surprise I couldn’t find a lot of information about it. I am collecting all that tribal knowledge to create a quick guide to apply for a year long Schengen visa.
Not very much different from a normal application
If you are reading this blog post, chances are you have already become a specialist in applying for Schengen visas since you have at least done it twice/thrice in the past 2 years.
Documents Required
Here’s the document list I submitted alongside my cover letter for the visa.
Application for Short Stay Schengen Visa – Filled electronically.
Valid passport with a minimum of six months’ validity with its photocopies.
Invitation letter from the company and a letter from my employer affirming my employment status, role, and compensation + A remote worker verification letter to affirm further my working status at the company.
Photographs of Passport Size – Schengen spec
Proof of Travel, hotels & flights – No change
Evidence of economic means, ITR, bank statements, Pay slips – No change.
Travel, Medical, and Health insurance with benefits covering $750k – Annual
You request that you want a year-long visa in your cover letter, back it up with the reasons (why), with the resources (how), and with some details (what).
The What & the Why: Cover Letter
As vanilla as it sounds, the cover letter is what holds the application together both in hiring and visa applications as long as someone reads it. And, embassies definitely do.
Here are a few lines that I included in my cover letter to explain The What
In the past year, I have been granted two Schengen visas for Spain, which I have used responsibly and in full compliance with all visa regulations. For this upcoming trip, I hope to secure a longer-duration year-long visa to facilitate my frequent business travel to Spain.
And, about The Why.
Given my track record of responsible travel within the Schengen area and the nature of my work requiring frequent visits, I kindly request your consideration for a long-duration multiple-entry Schengen visa. This would facilitate my ongoing commitments and strengthen technological collaborations between my continued visits to Spain.
The How: Insurance
Travel insurance provides that outlook in the application that you are in for the long haul. With several trips abroad, I always find it cheaper to buy a year-long Tata AIG travel + health insurance. You can buy the policy online by first cutting the intrusive call the sales rep will give you 0.5 seconds after you submit your mobile number on their website. Once that hard part is done, you can buy the worldwide policy in peace – pretty clean UI.
My policy covers all incidents in each 30-day duration trip worldwide except 12 countries for a year.
The How: Evidence of Economic means
Maybe shore up that balance a little more or show the means through other financial instruments that could hint that with this year-long visa, you can sustain yourself with no issues.
If nothing? Get a sponsorship letter from your parents to sponsor you for the trip. An overkill move which requires further documentation but you do want the visa so why not.
That’s about it
I wanted to write this quick blog down for the sole purpose of documenting. There is no secret sauce. There is no special form to be filled.
After a very rough start to 2024, I am beginning to settle in again and look forward to traveling more. The Schengen visa definitely enables the European leg of my travel. Lot of conferences to attend that are happening this year. Exciting times ahead.
