Traveling on a Schengen Visa makes it much easier to travel between the 25 member countries (which include 22 European Union countries and three non-EU member states), much less bureaucratic and much less stressful. When you have this visa you can travel to all the member countries on the same document, without having to obtain individual visas for every country that you visit. This is particularly good for travelers who are seeing a lot of countries on one tour. This type of visa is a visitor visa and it is not for working travelers.
The purpose of the Schengen Visa is tourism, leisure, or business. The visa is issued with a particular time frame and it is important to plan your travel inside this time frame as the visa is difficult to extend. You can travel within the member countries for up to 90 days within a six month period. Visa holders are not allowed to live permanently in the member countries and they cannot work. This visa is for temporary travel to the countries participating in the program.
Applying for this visa is simple and once you have it you’ll find your passage through Europe to be smoother and easier. Many holidaymakers enjoy travel on this visa, particularly young travelers seeing the continent by train and bus. There’s so much to see in Europe that to limit yourself to one country seems a waste, considering the distance you have traveled. Even if you are picking four or five countries it is worth picking up the visa.
The following 25 European countries are members of the visa program: Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Iceland, Greece, Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, France, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Poland, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Slovenia, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia and Sweden.
