Being the second smallest country, Monaco attracts many tourists every year. Strangely, Monaco only has borders with France. When people think of Monaco, confusion often appears. Is Monaco an independent state? Yes, it is independent since 1297. Why do people make such mistakes about Monaco, then? Although the state is independent, the relations of Monaco, including Monaco visa policy with other countries, are regulated according to France. This article will mainly concentrate on visa for Monaco, visa requirements, how to get Monaco visa, etc.
Monaco visa policy is similar or, to be more clear, identical to France visa policy. Having a visa to France will give you the right to travel to Monaco as well. So it is kind of a “kill two birds with one stone” situation if you also desire to see France. Another bizarre thing is that though Monaco is not a member state of the Schengen area, it complies with Schengen regulations.
So who needs a visa for Monaco? To answer that, you should check to see if your country is visa-exempt. Other than European countries, the following countries are Monaco visa free countries:
Australia, Antiga and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Macao, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Taiwan, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, USA, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Ukraine, Brunei.
If this is not the case for you, you will need to apply for a visa for Monaco. In order to do that, first, you should check whether there is an embassy or consulate of Monaco in your country. If there is not, check for the embassy or consulate of France in your country.
Let's consider, you do not know how to get Monaco visa. Do not worry, because we will go through the procedure step by step.
We can categorize visas for Monaco as two groups:
Short-term visas are considered to be Schengen visas, and they are grouped according to purposes of visit. They are:
Those who are not from Monaco visa free countries might ask what are Monaco visa requirements? Almost for every type of visas, you have to present similar documents; only one or two additional documents can be required depending on your purpose of visit. These required documents are:
It should be noted that the process for evaluation of the visa applications takes between 5 and 25 days. But in some types of visas (depending on the case), it can take less than 5 days.
Those who plan to visit Monaco should know Monaco visa requirements for business purposes and meet additional visa requirements aside from the requirements indicated before:
For those who are going to participate in a cultural event or are invited, the only additional requirement for the cultural visa is to present a document or invitation letter that shows details of contact info of the organization, details of participants, details regarding who covers expenses, etc.
Similar to cultural visas, applicants of sports visas are required to submit documents provided by a national sports federation (on any sports field) that gives details regarding that event.
If you do not know how to get Monaco visa for sport or cultural purposes, it is the same with others. That is, you should submit documents to a consulate/embassy of Monaco or France. Note that for sports purposes, a visa can be acquired in less than 5 days in some cases.
After filling Monaco visa application and submitting standard Schengen documents, you will be asked to present one additional document:
If you want to undergo a medical process (surgery, treatment), you will be asked to present an invitation letter, which is a document that gives details of the followings: contact details of medical institution and signing person, basic personal information such as name, date of birth, citizenship of the applicant, payment details, duration of treatment, etc. Other documents also can be requested.
Monaco visa requirements for visiting families and friends:
People who enrolled in short term courses in Monaco should present the following additional documents:
To present visa application, 80 euros of fee should be paid. For children 6-12 years old, this number is 40 euros. For children younger than 6, no fee is required. To boost tourism and some improvements had been done. Thanks to the agreement signed between the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Montenegro visa fee is down to 35 euros.