29 countries, one visa.

The routes we fly most

10 cities we file for every week.

Each one has its own habits — what the consulate expects to see, when the appointment slots vanish, how an itinerary is best evidenced.

• 

  France

  Paris

  The most-applied-for route out of the UK, and the one consulates scrutinise hardest for it. A well-built file matters more here than anywhere else in the zone.

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• 

  Netherlands

  Amsterdam

  A short hop and a common first entry point, which makes it the country people wrongly apply to. If Amsterdam is a stopover rather than the stay, it is not your consulate.

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• 

  Italy

  Rome

  Italy is the anchor of most multi-city itineraries through southern Europe, and usually the country of main stay even when the flights land elsewhere.

  View guide
• 

  Spain

  Barcelona

  Spain handles a high volume of UK applications and expects accommodation and insurance evidence to match the itinerary precisely.

  View guide
• 

  Greece

  Santorini

  Island itineraries need their internal ferry and flight legs documented, not just the arrival. Greece asks for the whole chain of stays.

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• 

  Switzerland

  Swiss Alps

  Switzerland is in Schengen but not the EU, which catches people out. The visa is the same; the insurance and funds thresholds are read strictly.

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• 

  Portugal

  Lisbon

  Portugal has become one of the steadier routes for UK applicants, with predictable appointment availability outside the summer peak.

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• 

  Austria

  Vienna

  Austria sits at the centre of the rail-based itineraries that make the main-destination rule genuinely hard to apply. Worth confirming before you book.

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• 

  Czechia

  Prague

  Czechia joined the zone in 2007 and now handles a large share of central-European applications. Appointment slots move quickly in spring.

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• 

  Germany

  Berlin

  Germany is the most common main destination for business travel out of the UK, and the consulate expects the purpose of the trip to be evidenced rather than asserted.

  View guide

Before you book

Which consulate do I apply to?

One visa, many countries, but not many consulates — exactly one of them is competent to read your file, and applying to the wrong one costs you the appointment and the fee. The Visa Code settles it in three steps, taken in order.

1. 01

   One country

   If your trip has a single destination, that country's consulate examines the application. Most files end here.

2. 02

   Several countries, one main destination

   If you are visiting more than one, it is the country that is the main destination in terms of the length or purpose of the stay. Length usually settles it; purpose can override it when the trip has a clear reason.

3. 03

   Several countries, no main destination

   Only when no main destination can be established does it fall to the country whose external border you cross first — the itinerant traveller's rule, and the one people reach for far too early.

Worked through

• Ten nights in Paris. Fly Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle and back.

  A single destination. Limb one, and no further thought required.

  Apply to

  France

• Fly into Amsterdam, three nights there, then seven nights in Rome. Home from Rome.

  Rome is the main destination by length. The Netherlands is only your first entry, which does not come into it while a main destination exists — this is the single most common misfiling we see.

  Apply to

  Italy

• Four nights in Berlin for a trade fair, then four nights in Prague for a holiday. Enter at Prague.

  The nights are tied, so length cannot decide it — but purpose can. The trade fair is the reason for the trip, which makes Berlin the main destination. Note the answer is not Czechia, even though you land there first.

  Apply to

  Germany

• A rail loop: three nights each in Vienna, Prague and Budapest, all of it leisure. Enter at Vienna.

  Nothing distinguishes the three legs by length or purpose, so no main destination can be established. Only now does first entry decide it.

  Apply to

  Austria