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If you are travelling in schengen area and your visa validity is about to expire, you wonder how to go about your extension of Schengen Visa. You may be travelling wishing to see more places or you may be on a business trip that you have some unfinished work or if you are under medical treatment and need more time to stay in Europe, then you are not allowed to stay unless your visa extension is approved.

Anyone who is applying for short term visa will get maximum of 90 day visa that is 3 months at the maximum within 6 months period. However it is not possible to cover all the 28 European Schengen countries, especially if you are a real traveler trying to cherish the rich cultural and traditional heritage of Europe.

Though it is not easy to get short term visas extended, there are chances of actually getting it extended if your reason for extension is valid.

At first you need to know, your visa extension is depending on the type of short term visa you hold.

There are three main types of visas, single entry visa, double entry visa and multiple entry visas.

Single Entry Visas: This type of visas will give you permission to enter the schengen country or the schengen area only once and as soon as you leave the country you won’t be able to enter the schengen area again without a valid permit.

Double entry visas: Within 3 months of short term visa, you will be allowed to enter and leave the country twice. As soon as the second entry and exit in to the schengen country is complete, though you have number of days left within that 3 months validity, you still won’t be able to enter the country without valid visa again.

Multiple entry Visas: Multiple entry visas will allow you to enter and exit the schengen area, multiple times but within that three months of validity time you must not travel outside that 6 months window.

Hence these three types of visas will allow you to have extension of visa provided the reasons you give are justifying the facts for extension.

Right now, let’s see of the ways you can extend your visa with valid reasons and documents that need to be submitted.

The European parliament regulation and the council No. 810.2009 states that of July 13th 2009 established a community code regarding visa extension which is permissible under strong reasons of application.

In case of Late Entry: The reason late entry can be considered on single entry visas, and this can be extended if you have entered schengen country lately from the given valid date of visa validity. For example you are issued with single entry visa that becomes valid from 1st of January and you have entered after 2 weeks from the date of issue, then it is considered a late entry. In this case, you can apply for visa extension, with high chances of extension permitted.

Under Humanitarian Grounds: Schengen visa extensions are considered for foreigners or third country citizens who need extension of short term visa under difficult circumstances faced by them. You may be in emergency of getting medical treatment. If not you may be in a situation where you need to attend a funeral and need to care for the person who is undergoing hardships and is close to you.

Force Majeure: These are unfortunate and unexpected circumstances that might occur in your home country and you are unable to travel. It may be earthquakes or natural disasters, war, protests or bad weather that might stop you from travelling on time to your home country. In this case, you will be considered for the visa extension.

Emergency Personal Issues: Personal reasons could be anything like you have any work that is incomplete and you want to travel out upon finishing that. You might want to attend a wedding or want to attend a party that suddenly has come up with an invitation; in these cases you can present your case for visa extension. However the decision lies with the visa issuing authority.

Procedure to apply
As soon as you have your reasons for your visa extension, then gather your documents and start the procedure to apply for it.

You are supposed to apply for the visa at least a week before your visa gets expired. You need to give time to the visa authority to assess your case and decide on the extension. Do not even let the last day skip by like that, as even if you overstay more than a day, you will be deported.

Now as you wish to apply for an extension do not forget to remain in the same country for visa extension, the country that issued you with a visa in the first place. Then find out the immigration office of that particular schengen country where they issue you with extensions.

It is now time to gather your documents. All the documents that you have submitted at the time of application of actual visa are somewhat different to the visa extension. You will need to submit documents supporting your reason for extension, visa extension form, same passport as what was given for original visa, a photo that fulfills the photo requirement, means of subsistence to support yourself during your extended stay and travel insurance for all the schengen countries you are going to visit.

If the schengen country you are staying now requires an interview for visa extensions then you need to book an appointment for interview and gather your documents to be ready. Ensure you reach on time as per the schedule.

Based on the documents you have provided, the visa officer will decide if the reason for your request to stay longer is really true.

As soon as the application goes into process remain in the schengen country you have applied for and do not travel out of the country. Until the outcome of application is out, you can remain in the country even after your visa expires. Usually visa extension times may take a week to sometimes even a month. If the status is out as granted you can stay as long as it was approved for or immediately get ready to leave the country in 24 to 48 hours.

In case you have applied for first or second time of visa extensions on the short stay visa, the fee might vary as per the first or second time visa extension types. The fee also depends on the reasons you have applied for.

If you are applying under humanitarian grounds or force majeure and then it’s your first time extension application, you need not pay any fee. However for those applying for personal reasons or late entry into the schengen country reasons have to pay 30 Euros as fee for extension.

If you are applying for the second time visa extension for any reason, you will be asked to pay 30 Euros in case of minors and 60 Euros in case of adults.

Remember that whether its visa extension or your new fresh visa application to schengen countries, if your visa is denied, you will not get any amount refunded.