History of Schengen in the mid 80s of the twentieth century, the mutual integration of the European Union has reached a level that was necessary to make a qualitative change in the rules of migration. As a result, on June 14, 1985 in Luxembourg in the Schengen part of the EU member states signed a document of global significance – the agreement on the abolition of passport control. The new standard visa Schengen he named. Currently, the Schengen area includes two half a dozen countries: Austria, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Portugal, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Estonia. The essence of this agreement lies in the fact that citizens were able to move freely within the Schengen area.
Condition for such freedom of movement is to obtain a Schengen visa at any of the above countries. The Schengen visa is a single model for states that do not belong to the Schengen zone. Because the types of visas, the objectives for the citizens of foreign countries differ, as well as the duration of stay abroad – Visas are divided into different categories: A, B, C and D. Category A – for this type of visa applies airport transit visa, which allows the holder to stay in the transit zone of an international airport with no visitation rights territory. Category B – This type of visa, which is also considered a transit is already to travel through the territory of one state to another visit. Category C – is the most sought, type of visa which, in reality, can be identified as the main Schengen visa. The Schengen visa is issued for this category of short-term visits. On it you can enter the country, the embassy which issued it to you, and only then you can move freely within the entire Schengen area without visas in more states within the Schengen Union.
In this case, it is important to note that this type of visa does not give you the right to work in these states. Visa C is divided into subtypes, which represent, as a rule, the length of stay and frequency of entry: C1 – entitles you to enter up to 30 days; C2 – gives you the right to stay in the Schengen group of 31 to 90 days; C3 – issued for multiple entries (multivisa), it is valid, usually within a year and gives you the right to stay in the Schengen area not exceeding 90 days; C4 – essentially the same as C3, with the only difference that is issued for 5 years. Category D – this type of visa is for entry to a particular country (national visa) and gives a fairly broad powers to its owner, namely the right to remain in the state for a long time, to get a job with the possibility of a residence permit, etc. Despite the fact that quite often you can hear the words "Schengen visa type D, still, I want to emphasize that the head of all these type of visas in the first place, the definition of a Schengen visa, falls into the category of visas under the letter S. The original article, visit the website of the Immigration