Which Schengen Country Should You Apply To?

Which Schengen country examines your application is set by Article 5 of the Visa Code (Regulation (EC) 810/2009, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/1155). The rule has three tiers:

• One country: if you are visiting only one Schengen country, you apply to that country.
• Several countries: if your trip covers more than one country, you apply to your main destination. It is determined by the length of stay, counted in days, or by the purpose of the trip; for most holidays it is simply the country where you spend the most days.
• No main destination: if one cannot be determined, for example because you stay equally long in two countries, you apply to the country where you first enter the Schengen area.

So 7 days in Germany and 4 in France means applying to Germany. Four days each in the Netherlands and Belgium, starting in the Netherlands, means applying to the Netherlands.

The Visa Code treats several separate trips made within two months as a whole. The competent country is then the main destination across those trips, which in most cases means the country where you will spend the most days in total.

If you are asking for a multiple-entry visa, set out your first trip and the reasons for your later trips consistently in the application. Every stay must also respect the 90/180-day rule.

The regulation allows the main destination to be set not only by the number of days but also by the purpose of the trip. If, for example, the main reason for travelling is a business meeting or trade fair in one country, followed by a longer holiday in another, the competent country is assessed on the file as a whole.

For mixed plans like this, do not guess: check with the information channels of the relevant embassy or its authorised visa application centre. Documents showing the purpose of your trip, such as an invitation letter, belong in your file whichever country you apply to; see our document checklist for details.

Once you know the competent country, your application is examined by its consulate responsible for the area where you legally reside. In Türkiye, many Schengen countries divide this responsibility by province between their embassy in Ankara and their consulates general in Istanbul or İzmir. Germany, for example, assigns certain provinces to its consulates general in Istanbul and İzmir and the rest to its embassy in Ankara.

Applications are usually taken through authorised visa application centres, and the centre's city need not be the same as the mission that decides on your file. Some countries are represented in Türkiye by another Schengen country. Even if you live in Ankara, always check the relevant country's current official guidance on which channel to use.

If you are legally present in Türkiye but not resident here, the consulate will examine your application only if you give a justification for applying there.

Under Article 18 of the Visa Code, a consulate first checks whether it is competent once an application is lodged. If it is not, the application is not examined: your form and documents are returned, the visa fee is reimbursed and you are told which consulate is competent.

That costs you time, since you will need a new appointment and a fresh application to the right country. More serious is arranging bookings around a different country to disguise your real plan. If your stated itinerary and your documents do not match, the credibility of your file suffers and it may be assessed negatively. Our refusal and appeal guide explains your options after a refusal.

Unless your visa says otherwise, a Schengen visa is valid in all 29 Schengen countries, and you may enter the area through a country other than the one that issued it. Border guards may, however, ask for documents showing the purpose and conditions of your trip.

The visa is issued on the basis of the plan you declared. If it later becomes clear that the conditions for issuing it were not met at the time, it can be annulled under Article 34 of the Visa Code. If your plans genuinely changed after the visa was issued, carry up-to-date bookings and documents that explain the change. Your visa history is also taken into account in future applications.