Changes

The legal basis for issuing Schengen visa is stipulated in the Visa Code. It applies to all EU Member States and associated countries participating in the Schengen Agreement.

A new Visa Code will come into effect on February 2nd 2020.

The most important changes at a glance

• Increase of the fee to 80 €( 40 € for children between 6 and 12 years, applications for children below the age of 6 are still free of charge)
• The application can now be lodged 6 months, or for seamen, 9 months, before the planned trip
• The standard processing time for the decision on visa applications is 15 days. If in individual cases an extended review is carried out, the processing time may be extended to 45 days. The application should be submitted at least 15 days before the planned trip.
• As of February 2nd 2020, applications for Schengen visas can only be submitted at the external service provider. VFS Global acts as the official service provider of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Colombo managing the administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to visa. For more information about the procedure at VFS please visit their website VFS Global

The application form for a Schengen visa can be found here Schengen visa application. For a transitional period the old application form can still be used.

Disclaimer of liability:

All information is based on the knowledge and experience of the Embassy at the time of writing this text. No guarantee can be given for the completeness and correctness, especially due to changes that have occurred in the meantime.