A Schengen visa is a document issued by a country that is part of the Schengen Agreement for visiting one or more countries of the Schengen Area. It is important to understand that obtaining a Schengen visa is possible only if the established rules and requirements are followed, and these should be studied carefully using official sources.
A Schengen visa has two main rules: the first-entry rule and the main country of stay rule. Both rules are described in detail in the document governing the visa issuance process. This document can be found on the website of any embassy, for example, on the official website of the German Embassy under the title “Guidelines on the competence of individual Schengen Agreement countries in issuing visas.”
The first-entry rule for the Schengen Area means that if you cannot determine your main country of stay — for example, if you plan to spend an equal amount of time in several European countries — you should apply for a visa at the embassy of the country through which you plan to enter the Schengen Area.
This applies primarily to multiple-entry visas. A multiple-entry visa can only be obtained from the embassy of the main country of stay, and the first entry, whenever possible, should be into the country that issued the visa. Otherwise, it may be difficult to determine the main country of stay, in which case you can simply submit your documents to the embassy of the country you plan to visit first.
What are the possible consequences of entering through a different Schengen country?
The document mentioned above clearly describes this situation. If you cross the border of a country other than the one that issued your visa, you must have valid and well-founded reasons for doing so. If you do not have such reasons, you may simply be refused entry, as stated in the “Guidelines on the competence of individual Schengen Agreement countries in issuing visas.”
What can be considered a “special reason”?
This question can probably only be answered by border officials. Logically, a special reason could be traveling through one country in order to reach your main destination, for example because of cheaper airline tickets. So, if you have a Moscow–Rome flight with a connection in Düsseldorf — and tickets confirming this itinerary — the special reason is self-evident.
It is also worth noting that if you have a multiple-entry visa, after your first trip to the country that issued the document, you can enter any other country that is part of the Schengen Agreement on subsequent trips. For example, with a multiple-entry Schengen visa, you can travel to Paris or Madrid for a weekend with colleagues or for other purposes without any problems. It is important to remember the main country rule: you must spend more than half of your total time in the Schengen Area in the country that issued your visa.
Countries that have internal agreements with each other and do not require visitors to comply with the first-entry rule when entering one of these countries with one of the listed countries as their final destination include:
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Belgium
Countries where the first-entry rule is strictly observed
- Denmark
- Austria
- Finland
- Czech Republic
- Greece
- Germany
- Spain
- Italy
- Greece
List of exceptions
First entry into Austria or Germany when the purpose of the trip is to visit one of these two countries. Compliance with the first-entry rule as part of the immigration control procedures of these countries is not mandatory, although you may be required to provide confirmation of your onward itinerary and additional documents proving the purpose of your visit.
First entry into Portugal or Spain for the purpose of visiting one of these countries. Immigration control in these countries does not require compliance with the first-entry rule, and additional supporting documents are not mandatory.
An illustrative example: a citizen of the Russian Federation who has received a Spanish single-entry Schengen visa can enter Portugal directly without any problems, but should not make their first entry through countries such as Finland or Germany.
These are the basic rules directly related to the Schengen Convention. They are primarily followed by airline visa-control services when checking the validity of passengers’ Schengen visas on international flights.
France is the only participant in the Schengen Convention that does not follow the rules concerning the first visit to a country using a Schengen visa.
The United Kingdom is not a participant in the Schengen Convention.
