Indonesian citizens will be required to pay a higher fee when applying for a Schengen visa starting Feb. 2, 2020.

According to SchengenVisaInfo.com, the fee will increase from €60 (US$67) to €80 for adults and €35 to €40 for children.

Additionally, new rules will be applied for Indonesians planning to visit European Union countries next year. Among them are permission to submit an application up to six months in advance of departure, instead of three months; and a more "harmonized approach" to the issuance of multiple entry visas with longer validity for travelers who have "a positive visa history."

SchengenVisaInfo.com also reported that EU states that have no representation in Indonesia are now obliged to cooperate with external service providers in order to facilitate visa admission for travelers.

Read also: I used my powerless Indonesian passport to apply for UK visa. This is what happened.

Last year, Schengen embassies and consulates in Indonesia are reported to have processed 210,468 visa applications, 3,687 of which were rejected.

France was the most popular country for Indonesians with 55,959 submitted applications, followed by the Netherlands (40,411) and Germany (27,779).

Regarding expenditure, Indonesians spent 12.6 million euro on visa applications to Europe in 2018, with 221,220 euro spent by those who had their visas rejected. (kes)