Applying for a Schengen Visa with a UK eVisa and Share Code

How do you prove UK residence for a Schengen visa now?

You prove it with your UKVI eVisa. Create a share code on the GOV.UK View and prove your immigration status service, download or print the status page, and include both in your Schengen application. The consulate can then check your status online.

Schengen consulates in the UK normally accept applications only from people lawfully resident here (visitors can apply only in justified exceptional cases; see Schengen visas on a UK visitor visa), so proof of UK status is one of the core documents in every Schengen visa application from the UK. Until recently that proof was the biometric residence permit (BRP) card. All BRPs have now expired, and the Home Office has replaced them with eVisas: an online record of your immigration status linked to your passport.

This affects everyone with UK permission who needs a Schengen visa, including people on Skilled Worker, Health and Care, Student, Graduate, family and dependant visas, and people with indefinite leave to remain or EU Settlement Scheme status.

Note: British citizens do not need a Schengen visa or an eVisa. This guide is for UK residents whose nationality needs a visa, such as Indian, Pakistani, Nigerian or Bangladeshi nationals.

Step 1: Check your eVisa before you book anything

Sign in to the View and prove your immigration status service on GOV.UK before you start your Schengen application. You sign in with your passport or identity document, your date of birth and a code sent to your phone or email.

Check four things on the status page:

• Your name and date of birth match your passport exactly.
• Your passport number is the passport you will use for the Schengen visa.
• Your type of permission is correct (for example “Skilled Worker” or “Settled status”).
• The expiry date of your permission leaves enough time after your trip.

If anything is wrong, fix it now. Problems with an eVisa can take days or weeks to resolve, and visa centre slots can be hard to move at short notice.

Step 2: Link the eVisa to your current passport

Your eVisa must be linked to the passport you are applying with. If you renewed your passport since your last UK visa, your eVisa may still show the old one.

To update it, sign in to your UKVI account through GOV.UK’s “Update your UK Visas and Immigration account details” service and add the new passport. Once the change is processed, your status page shows the new document number. Create your share code after that, not before.

This matters twice over. The consulate needs to match your UK status to the passport it is putting the visa in. And when you come back to the UK, airlines and UK Border Force check your permission through the passport linked to your eVisa. A mismatch can mean delays at check-in on your way home.

Important: If your passport is due to expire soon, renew it before you apply for the Schengen visa. A Schengen visa needs a passport issued within the last 10 years, valid at least 3 months after you plan to leave the Schengen area, with at least two blank pages. If you renew, you will then need to update your eVisa again.

Step 3: Create a share code

On the View and prove your immigration status service, choose to prove your status for a reason other than work or renting, then create a share code. Use this general option, not the right to work or right to rent options, because those codes are meant for employers and landlords.

A share code:

• lasts 90 days from the day you create it
• can be used more than once while it is valid
• does not change your status, and you can create a new one at any time

When to create it

Create the code a few days before your appointment. The consulate may check it during processing, and a decision can take 15 calendar days, or up to 45 in some cases (see Schengen processing times). A code created three months before your appointment could expire before anyone looks at it.

If you have already created a code but your appointment has moved, make a fresh one. It costs nothing.

Step 4: What to print and bring

Most UK visa centres still work from paper files, so bring printed copies even if you uploaded documents online.

Save the page that shows your share code and status details: use the service’s own print option if it offers one, or your browser’s “Print” or “Save as PDF” function. Print it in colour if you can, and make sure the share code and its expiry date are visible on the printout. The consulate checks your record on GOV.UK using the share code and your date of birth.

The harmonised Schengen application form asks about your residence permit in the country where you live, including a number and an expiry date. An eVisa has no card number, so follow the destination country’s own guidance for that field, and always give the expiry date exactly as your status page shows it. Keep the share code to hand, because some centres and online forms ask for it directly. For the full file, see our Schengen visa documents checklist.

Tip: Save the PDF on your phone too. If a document check at the centre raises a question, you can show the live status page on screen.

Can you still use an expired BRP for a Schengen visa?

Not as proof of status: an expired BRP is no longer proof of your UK status. You cannot submit it in place of an eVisa for a Schengen application.

You can still use an expired BRP for a limited time to:

• sign in to your UKVI account
• access or share your eVisa
• apply to extend your stay in the UK

This works for up to 24 months after the BRP’s printed expiry date, or until 31 December 2026, whichever comes first. After that, you sign in with your passport. Our guide to Schengen visas when your BRP has expired covers this in more detail.

If you still have only a BRP and no UKVI account, create one now through GOV.UK. Without access to your eVisa you cannot create a share code, and without a share code most Schengen consulates will treat your proof of residence as incomplete.

If you have no BRP and no eVisa

Some long-term residents have indefinite leave to remain shown only as a stamp or vignette in an old passport. If that applies to you, you may not have an eVisa yet. The usual route is a No Time Limit (NTL) application to the Home Office, which confirms your status digitally. Check the current process on GOV.UK and allow plenty of time, because a Schengen consulate will expect to verify your status online.

How long must your UK permission last after the trip?

Most Schengen consulates in the UK publish a minimum of 1 month beyond the day you leave the Schengen area, and a few ask for 3 months. Planning for 3 months keeps you safe everywhere. The published rules:

If your UK visa ends soon after your trip, the consulate may refuse the application or issue a visa shorter than you asked for. It may also limit the length of a multiple-entry visa to the end of your UK permission; Denmark’s embassy warns of exactly this. Our guide to UK visa validity for a Schengen visa covers every country’s rule.

If your UK visa extension is pending

This is the hardest situation. While an in-country application to extend your stay is pending, your permission continues under section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971. But two problems arise:

• If you leave the Common Travel Area (the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) before the Home Office decides, your UK application is normally treated as withdrawn.
• Your eVisa may still show the old expiry date, so the Schengen consulate cannot see that you are lawfully here.

Most people in this position wait for the UK decision and the updated eVisa before applying for a Schengen visa. Students finishing a course and moving to the Graduate route often meet this problem; see Schengen visas for students in the UK.

Do family members and children need their own share code?

Yes. Every applicant needs their own proof of status, including children. Each family member has their own eVisa and their own share code. Parents usually access a child’s eVisa using the child’s own passport and details. Create a separate share code for each person, and label each printout with the applicant’s name so the visa centre can match documents to files.

If your family includes EU, EEA or Swiss citizens, the documents and fee can be different. See Schengen visas for children for minors’ documents and Schengen visas for dependants in the UK if you hold a dependant visa.

Which eVisa problems hold up Schengen applications?

Most delays come from an expired share code, an eVisa linked to an old passport or UK permission that ends too soon after the trip. Each has a straightforward fix:

Problems with proof of residence are one of the avoidable reasons for delay or refusal. If you have been refused before, our guide to Schengen visa refusals explains your options.

When should you check your eVisa before your appointment?

Get your eVisa in order before you book, not after. Appointments at the visa centres are booked in your own name on the official system, and the booking itself is free. A fixed slot leaves no room to sort out a passport update or a locked account. Read our Schengen visa appointment guide for how each provider works, or the city guides for London, Manchester and Edinburgh. For a country-specific example, see France visa appointments.

A sensible order is: check and update your eVisa, book the appointment, gather documents, then create the share code a few days before you attend.

If you want your eVisa status page and share code checked for passport links and expiry dates before you submit, see what our admin support includes. We do not give UK immigration advice.