Indians Can Now Get 5-Year Schengen Visa Under New Cascade Scheme

Indian travellers with a clean visa history can now experience long-term, hassle-free travel to Europe as a result of the newly implemented Cascade Visa Scheme. As a result of a major change introduced by the European Commission, eligible Indian citizens can now apply for a 5-year multi-entry Schengen visa.

This landmark rule became effective as of April 18, 2024.

What is the Cascade Visa Scheme?

The cascade visa system allows for follow-up Schengen long-term visas, which means that “trusted travellers” will be entitled to approximately 5-year multi-entry visas based on their previous travel behaviour.

The cascade visa system is essentially part of the Schengen Visa Code reform of 2020, which is a change to facilitate travel and enhance European Union–India relationships.

How Does It Work?

The scheme is undeniably a step-by-step structure, including:

1-year visa: If the applicant has used 3 Schengen visas within two years.
2-year visa: If the applicant held a 1-year multiple-entry visa within the past two years, and used it for travel.
5-year visa: If the applicant held a 2-year multiple-entry visa during the past three years, and used it for travel.

Important: The applicant’s passport must be valid for the length of the requested Visa period.

Where Can You Travel?

With this visa, travellers can freely visit all 29 Schengen countries, without being tied to a specific reason like tourism or business.

However:

The visa does not allow you to work in the EU
You can stay only 90 days in any 180 days

Who’s Eligible?

To qualify, the applicants must:

Be an Indian national
Have a clean visa compliance
Have used prior Schengen visas correctly
Must apply from their country of citizenship
Have valid documents that support their reason to travel.

As a New Applicant, one would typically apply for a short-term visa, so over time, the applicant would build their travel history. Transit visas do not count as visa history, and if you apply for an individual country, this can also not be counted towards travel history.

Misuse of travel history, for example—overstaying a visa or working illegally, could lead to disqualification from the scheme, for the long term.

Why it Matters

The new rule:

Acknowledges developing cooperation between the EU and India
Promotes smoother mobility for business and tourism
Supports the EU’s agenda with “trusted countries” for “people-to-people contact”

Currently, Turkey, India, and Indonesia are all included in the cascade system. More counties may be included depending on diplomatic and trade relations.

If you are a frequent, conscientious traveller with a good history of obtaining Schengen visas, then Europe has just become much closer.