Easter and Half-Term 2027: When to Apply for a Schengen Visa

TL;DR

February half-term is 15 to 19 February 2027 and the Easter holiday 26 March to 9 April 2027 for most English councils. A Schengen visa needs an appointment first, then 15 calendar days of processing after biometrics. Count back 50 days from your travel date with a four-week slot wait, or 36 with a two-week wait, and have a complete file by then: for 13 February, Christmas or 8 January; for 26 March, 4 or 18 February.

The 2027 dates

gov.uk's bank holiday list puts Good Friday on 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday on 29 March 2027. School dates are set council by council, and gov.uk's term-date lookup covers England and Wales. The councils we read agree on the spring:

Some councils run Easter to Monday 12 April, academies set their own dates, and Scottish councils publish their own calendars with a shorter February break, so check your council's page before you book flights. For a Schengen file the exact day matters less than the direction: every UK family with a visa-required passport wants the same two Saturdays, 13 February and 27 March, and the visa centres know it.

If you hold a British passport you need no visa for a short stay. This page is for people living in the UK on a visa, BRP or eVisa whose passport requires one; check whether you need a Schengen visa from the UK if you are unsure.

Schengen short-stay visa key facts, 2026

Schengen short-stay visa (Type C)	2026
Visa fee (adult)	€90
Visa fee (child 6 to 11)	€45
Visa fee (child under 6)	Free
Maximum stay	90 days in any rolling 180-day period
Standard processing	15 calendar days (up to 45 in some cases)
Travel insurance, minimum cover	€30,000
Passport	Issued within 10 years; valid 3+ months beyond your trip
Member states	29 countries

The arithmetic, stated once

The apply-by date is your travel date minus the appointment wait, minus 15 days of processing, minus 7 days of margin.

• With a four-week slot wait: 28 + 15 + 7 = 50 days before you travel.
• With a two-week slot wait: 14 + 15 + 7 = 36 days before you travel.

Two facts in that sum are fixed and one is not. The 15 calendar days is the Visa Code standard, counted from the biometrics appointment, not from the day you book or the day you start gathering documents; the consulate can take up to 45 in some cases, which the margin does not absorb. The week of margin covers a day or two of overrun and the passport coming back by courier. The slot wait is the variable, and it is the one you can check: open the live calendar for your country's UK centre and see how far out the first date is. Our Christmas markets page uses the same method for the winter.

"Complete file" means passport, form, insurance, bookings for every night, bank statements and employer letter, all consistent with each other, ready to book. Starting to collect documents on the apply-by date is too late.

Apply-by dates for half-term and Easter 2027

The half-term row lands on Christmas Day in the four-week column. Visa centres and consulates close for several days around Christmas and New Year, and nothing moves while they are shut, so treat that row as "before the centres close", around 18 to 22 December, and check your centre's own opening days. The Easter rows fall inside February half-term itself, when many families are away; have the file done before the break rather than during it.

For France there is no calendar at any UK centre. TLScontact allocates short-stay appointments automatically, at London and Manchester since 1 August 2026 and at Edinburgh since 11 September 2026: you register, TLScontact emails a date, you have 12 hours to pay, the date cannot be rescheduled, and a registration with no allocation after 60 days is deleted. There is no slot to see, so register the moment the file is complete and treat the four-week column as the planning date. See TLScontact France appointments.

You can apply now: the six-month window

Consulates accept applications up to 6 months before travel. For a flight on 13 February 2027 that window opened in the middle of August 2026; for 26 March it opened in late September. Applying in October or November for a February or March trip is the single thing that reliably beats the appointment wait, because the calendars are quieter and a 45-day decision still lands with weeks to spare. The exception is Romania, whose eViza process allows lodging no more than three months before departure, so a Romania file for 13 February cannot be lodged before 13 November 2026.

Early also helps on the Visa Code's other clock. A visa is issued for the dates you ask for, so an application made in November for March does not shorten the trip.

Family files for the school holidays

Most half-term and Easter travellers are families, and a family file has more moving parts. Each child needs their own application signed by a parent or guardian, a birth certificate, a passport and photo, and a consent letter from the non-travelling parent if they travel with one parent. The consulate fee is 45 euros for children aged 6 to 11 and nothing under 6; the full 90 euros applies from 12. Children under 12 do not give fingerprints but attend for the photo. A school letter confirming enrolment and the term dates does for a child what an employer letter does for an adult: it shows the trip fits the holiday and the family returns for the new term.

Book the appointments together where the operator's system allows, so one trip to the centre covers everyone. The worked example with our pricing, £99 for the first applicant and £69 for each extra applicant up to five, is on family Schengen visas from the UK, and the children's documents are in Schengen visas for a child.

Ski at half-term: the insurance line

February half-term is ski week for many UK families, and a ski file has one extra check. Every Schengen application needs travel insurance with at least 30,000 euros of medical and repatriation cover for the whole area and the whole trip. For a ski trip, confirm the policy includes winter sports before you rely on it: the consulate expects the cover to match what you say you are going to do, and a standard policy that excludes skiing is a gap. See Schengen travel insurance. Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy are the usual destinations; apply to the country where you spend the most nights, which for a one-resort week is simple, and for a drive-through trip needs the nights counted. See which country to apply to.

If you have already missed the date

The table assumes a typical wait. The real one is whatever the calendar shows today, so:

1. Check every city your country offers. Most countries take applications in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, and a full London calendar does not mean the others are. See the London, Manchester and Edinburgh guides.
2. Check at different times of day. Slots are released in batches, and cancellations return appointments to the pool without notice.
3. Have the file complete before you look. A slot found on Monday is no use if the insurance and bookings take until Thursday.
4. Do not buy a resold slot. Consulates have voided bot-booked appointments.
5. Move the trip, not the standards. The second week of Easter gives you a week back; the May half-term gives you two months. A rushed file for a fixed weekend is the one that gets refused, and the refusal is recorded.

Build the list with the checklist generator, then assemble and size the file with the Bundler and Compressor.

Let us take the dates off your plate

Our desk prepares the whole application for a flat £99 service fee, plus £69 for each extra applicant up to five: the forms, the document pack and the appointment booking on the operator's official system, in your own names. The consulate fee and the visa-centre fee are paid by you at the centre on the day, and we never mark them up. Your application is prepared within 24 hours of your complete documents and details, or the fee back, and your appointment is booked within three working days of a complete file, subject to availability, or the fee back. You attend biometrics in person, and the consulate alone decides.

Pick your destination on the plan step and it shows the earliest slot we have seen for that country and whether your travel date still works. For what the service does and does not include, see the Schengen visa service.