Last updated: September 27, 2026
Ask ten travel agents how much money you need in your account for a Schengen visa and you will hear ten different numbers. The honest answer is less dramatic than any of them: there is no single official minimum. Consulates check whether your funds credibly cover your trip, and the bar for that is set country by country.
This guide gives you the actual figures published by EU member states, explains how visa officers read your bank statements, and walks you through calculating a realistic target for your own trip.
The short answer
Plan for roughly €100 per day of your stay as a comfortable working figure, on top of flights and prepaid hotels. That is not a law. It is the practical benchmark most consulates and application centres work with, and it sits above the official reference amounts most countries publish.
The official figures range from about €40 to €120 per day depending on the country, which is why a single “required balance” cannot exist. A ten-day trip to France is judged differently from a ten-day trip to Hungary, and an applicant with prepaid hotels is judged differently from one without.
What the law actually requires
The Schengen Visa Code (Regulation (EC) 810/2009) says applicants must show “sufficient means of subsistence” for the whole stay and the return journey. It deliberately does not fix one amount. Instead, each member state sets its own reference amount, and the European Commission publishes them in an official document, Annex 25 of the Visa Code Handbook.
That means the figure that matters is the one set by the country you are applying to, which is normally your main destination. Checking that country’s current guidance before you apply is the only way to know the exact number being used at your consulate.
Official per-day amounts by country
The table below is drawn from the EU’s published reference amounts. They are minimums used at borders and consulates, not recommended savings targets. Amounts are revised periodically, so confirm the current figure on your destination consulate’s page before applying.
| Country | Official reference amount |
|---|---|
| France | €120/day without a hotel booking; €65/day with prepaid hotel; €32.50/day when staying with a host who provides an attestation d’accueil |
| Spain | €122.10/day, with a minimum total of €1,098.90 regardless of trip length |
| Germany | No fixed amount; assessed case by case. If you cannot credibly document your circumstances, €45/day is used as the fallback |
| Italy | Sliding scale: €44.93/day for 6–10 day trips; €51.64 fixed plus €36.67/day for 11–20 days; €206.58 fixed plus €27.89/day for longer stays |
| Netherlands | €55/day |
| Belgium | €95/day if staying in a hotel; €45/day if staying with a private individual |
| Greece | €50/day, with a minimum total of €300 for stays up to 5 days |
| Croatia | €70/day, or €30/day with a certified guarantee letter or prepaid booking |
| Denmark | DKK 350/day (about €47) |
| Austria | No fixed amount; decided case by case |
| Malta | €48/day |
| Hungary | €40/day |
Other member states publish figures in the same document, including Bulgaria (€50/day with a €500 minimum total), Estonia (€70/day), Lithuania (€50/day), Poland (PLN 75/day, roughly €17), Luxembourg (about €67/day) and the Czech Republic (about 1,565 CZK, roughly €62, per day).
Two things stand out. First, the spread is wide: Hungary’s official figure is a third of Spain’s. Second, several countries, including Germany and Austria, set no fixed number at all and judge each file on its own merits. In those cases the officer is doing exactly what this article helps you prepare for: deciding whether your money looks real and sufficient.
The balance alone will not get you approved
Here is what experienced applicants learn the hard way: the closing balance is the least interesting number on your statement. Consulates read bank statements the way an auditor reads them, looking for a pattern.
They check that money comes in regularly and matches your declared income. A salaried employee whose payslips show €900 a month but whose account receives €3,000 a month has a problem, even with a healthy balance. They check that the balance built up gradually. A large deposit two weeks before the appointment, with no explanation, reads as borrowed money and is one of the most common reasons financial proof gets rejected. They check that the account is actually used: regular spending, rent or household payments, and a consistent rhythm of saving.
France’s official visa portal, France-Visas, describes acceptable proof of funds as personal bank statements for the last three months together with the last three pay slips, plus credit or debit card statements where relevant. Most consulates ask for three to six months of statements, stamped or certified by the bank. Online printouts are widely accepted if they are stamped; an unstamped screenshot from a banking app usually is not.
The takeaway from several recent applicant guides is the same: consistency beats size. An account that has held a steady, believable balance for six months is stronger than an account that jumped from nearly empty to a large figure last week.
How to calculate your own target figure
Use this formula:
(daily reference amount for your main destination × number of days) + visa fee + travel insurance + flights, if not yet booked + a buffer of 20–30%.
The buffer is not official. It is practical. It covers the gap between a legal minimum and the amount that makes an officer comfortable, and it absorbs exchange-rate and price differences.
Two examples make this concrete.
A ten-day trip to France with hotels already paid. France’s reference amount with prepaid accommodation is €65/day, so 10 × 65 = €650. Add the €90 visa fee for adults (in force since 11 June 2024), travel insurance, and a buffer, and the credible range lands around €1,500–€2,500 in available funds after the bookings are paid. That matches the benchmark most advisers quote for a ten-day trip.
A fourteen-day trip split between Spain and Italy, with nothing prepaid. Spain’s figure is the stricter of the two at €122.10/day: 14 × 122.10 = €1,709. Add the €90 fee, insurance, return flights, and a buffer, and you should be looking at roughly €3,000–€3,500 in accessible funds. Higher official minimums and no prepaid bookings both push the number up, which is exactly how officers think about it.
If the figure you can show is well above the official minimum but the pattern is irregular, fix the pattern first. Time is the cheapest remedy: six months of clean, regular statements solve most financial-proof problems.
Step-by-step: building your financial file
Follow these steps about two to three months before your appointment, not the week before.
First, choose the account. Use the account where your salary or regular income actually lands. If you have several accounts, submit the one with the clearest income trail and add the others as supporting documents. Do not open a brand-new account for the visa.
Second, clean up the pattern. Keep deposits regular and spending normal. Avoid moving large sums between your own accounts without keeping a record of what the transfer was. If a large deposit is unavoidable, keep the paper trail: a property sale contract, a bonus letter, a fixed-deposit maturity slip.
Third, collect three to six months of statements. Get them stamped or certified by the bank, and make sure the most recent statement is no older than a couple of weeks at the time of your appointment. Check your destination consulate’s checklist for the exact number of months it asks for; the full Schengen document checklist is covered in our tourist visa guide.
Fourth, gather the supporting income documents. For employees: the last three pay slips, an employment letter stating your position, salary and approved leave dates, and income tax returns for the last two to three years. For the self-employed and freelancers: business registration, tax returns for the last one to two years, and both personal and business bank statements. Make sure every figure agrees with every other: payslips, employer letter and bank deposits should tell the same story.
Fifth, if your trip is already partly paid, include the proof. Prepaid hotel confirmations and flight bookings reduce the amount you need to show as available cash, and in countries like France the official daily figure drops sharply when accommodation is prepaid.
Sixth, write a short cover letter that connects the dots. One paragraph stating your monthly income, your total trip budget and where the money sits is enough. Officers process hundreds of files; a file that explains itself gets an easier read.
When someone else is paying for the trip
Students, non-working spouses and applicants travelling on a parent’s or relative’s money are not expected to hold the full amount themselves. What the consulate expects instead is a complete sponsor file, and a sponsorship letter on its own is not enough.
The sponsor should provide a signed letter stating the relationship, what exactly they are covering, and the trip dates; their own three to six months of bank statements; their income proof; and a document proving the relationship, such as a birth certificate. The same consistency rules apply to the sponsor’s account. A parent with a steady income and regular savings is a strong sponsor. A sponsor whose own statements look irregular can weaken the application rather than help it.
Five financial-proof mistakes that lead to refusal
These come up again and again in refusal stories and in the guidance consulates publish.
A sudden large deposit with no source. This is the single most damaging pattern. Money that appears just before the application looks borrowed, and officers are trained to spot it.
A balance that does not match the trip. Showing €800 for a three-week trip across France and Spain fails on arithmetic, whatever the pattern looks like.
Income records that contradict each other. Payslips, the employer letter and bank deposits must agree. When they do not, the officer doubts all of them.
Missing sponsor documents. The invitation letter without the sponsor’s statements and income proof is incomplete and treated as such.
Altered or fake statements. Never submit edited documents. The result is not just a refusal but a potential ban from future applications.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official minimum bank balance for a Schengen visa?
No. EU law requires “sufficient means of subsistence” and leaves each member state to set its own reference amount, which range from about €40 to €120 per day. Always check the current figure published by the country you are applying to.
How many months of bank statements do I need?
Three to six months, depending on the consulate. France’s official portal asks for the last three months; several other consulates ask for six. The statements should be stamped or certified by the bank and recent at the time of your appointment.
Can I use a fixed deposit or savings account as proof?
Yes, as supporting evidence alongside your main current or salary account statements. Fixed deposits, mutual fund statements and property documents strengthen the picture of overall financial stability, but they do not replace the transaction history of the account your income flows through.
Does a high balance guarantee approval?
No. Officers weigh the pattern of income and spending more heavily than the final figure. A modest but steady account with matching income proof regularly outperforms a large balance that appeared last month.
What if my balance is low but my trip is genuine?
Apply to your real main destination, keep every booking modest and fully documented, and consider a sponsor with solid finances if one is genuinely funding the trip. Some applicants also choose destinations whose official reference amounts are lower, but the itinerary must be genuine: applying to a country you do not plan to visit is itself grounds for refusal.
Do I need to show the visa fee and insurance separately?
You do not pay them as part of the balance, but the officer will factor them into whether your funds cover the trip. Budget €90 for the adult visa fee (in force since June 2024), the VFS Global or TLScontact service charge set by your local centre, and compliant travel insurance with at least €30,000 of medical cover.
The bottom line
There is no magic number, and anyone quoting one is guessing. Find your main destination’s official daily figure, multiply it by your trip length, add your real costs and a buffer, and then make sure your statements tell a believable six-month story. Do that, and the bank balance question answers itself.
For the complete application process beyond the financial documents, see our Schengen Tourist Visa: Complete Application Guide.
