The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has announced that starting June 11, third country nationals applying for a Schengen visa will face higher fees. The fee for Schengen visa applications for these individuals will increase by 12%, following a decision from the European Commission.
In a notice posted on May 25, VFS Global, a commercial company working in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy to provide visa application support services, informed clients of the fee hike. According to the Slovenian Ministry, adults applying for a short-term visa (Visa Type C) to Slovenia and other European Union countries will now need to pay EUR 90, up from the previous EUR 80. Children aged six to 12 years old will be charged EUR 45, an increase from EUR 40.
The increase in fees will apply worldwide as of June 11, 2024. Additionally, nationals from countries that have not cooperated on the readmission of their nationals who are irregularly staying in Schengen states will face higher visa fees of either EUR 135 or EUR 180, depending on the council’s decision.
This fee adjustment comes after the EU registered a 36.3% increase in the number of visas issued in 2023 compared to the previous year. Despite this increase, the figure is still 39% lower than the full-year figures from 2019, before global COVID-19 restrictions were put in place, when the EU received 16 million visa applications.
In 2023, a total of 200,973 Filipinos applied for Schengen visas, with 187,808 applications approved, resulting in an approval rate of approximately 93.46%. Filipino applicants spent €16,077,840 on Schengen visa applications that year. If the same number of people apply starting June 11, Filipinos’ total expenditure is expected to amount to EUR 18,087,570, an increase of EUR 2,009,730.
The standard Schengen visa fee was last increased from EUR 60 to EUR 80 in January 2020. Data from SchengenVisaInfo showed that the number of Philippine passport holders applying for Schengen visas rose by 43% since 2015, with 189,541 applicants recorded in 2019, up from 132,611 visa applications in 2015. The site also reported that 17 million Schengen visa applications were filed at the Schengen embassies in 2019.
