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Schengen Type CVerified 24 Apr 2026Facilitated Schengen visa for Indian seafarers joining a ship in a Dutch port under the Blue Carpet Programme. Priority processing, multi-entry visas, 9-month advance application window. Complete documents and invitation requirements.
Professional filing · fee back if refused
Not included in our fee: a flight reservation (from ₹708) and a confirmed hotel booking (₹590 per hotel). Book them separately, only if your visa needs them:
Opens WhatsApp. We send the 50% advance link; the balance is due before anything is submitted.
What you get
SureshotVisa promise
Visa refused — 100% of our fee back, initiated within 7 days. Embassy and visa-centre fees are collected by the authority and are not refundable by anyone. Refund policy
Pro Lifeset Overseas Pvt Ltd · Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024. The visa decision is the embassy's.
Or leave your number for a The Netherlands visa callback
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✓ The ₹499 report is fully refundable · our refund promise
Check the official requirements
Guide last reviewed 2026-04-24. Fees, documents and appointment rules can change.
Indian seafarers joining a ship in a Dutch (or Polish or Latvian) port need a Schengen Short-Stay (Type C) visa processed by the Dutch embassy under the Blue Carpet Programme. The Blue Carpet facilitates priority processing, multi-entry visas with longer validity, a 9-month advance application window, and waiver of in-person submission if biometrics were given in the last 59 months. A seafarer is any person employed or engaged in any capacity on board a ship in the maritime or international inland waterway sector.
What it costs
Paid directly to The Netherlands / VFS — these are not our service fee, and we never mark them up.
Figures per VFS Global, last verified 24 Apr 2026. Fees change without notice — the official page is final.
Fees effective 1 April 2026 as published by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Payment accepted in cash, debit/credit card, or UPI at VFS. All fees (visa + service charge) are non-refundable, regardless of visa outcome. Schengen "low fee" of €35 applies only to citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus under visa facilitation agreements — not applicable to Indian nationals.
Flights · Hotels · Insurance · Itinerary
The Netherlands applies the Schengen rules, so travel insurance is not a nice-to-have — it is a legal condition of the visa.
2 of 4 are compulsory for The Netherlands
Where people slip: Flying into one city and out of another with nothing showing how you travel between them. Officers read the whole route, and an unexplained gap reads as a plan that does not hold together.
Book for ₹708 (+₹472 per family member)Where people slip: Free-cancellation bookings are accepted, but if the entire file is free-cancellation the officer sees a trip nobody has committed to. Some of it should be real spend.
Confirmed hotel booking, ₹590 per hotel: message us firstWhere people slip: Buying cover for the adults and forgetting the children. Every traveller needs their own EUR 30,000, infants included — a real refusal we have seen on a family of four.
What a Schengen policy must showWhere people slip: Spending more nights in another Schengen country than in The Netherlands. That gets a file rejected before it is even assessed.
The letter your itinerary attaches toWe can arrange the flight reservation, the hotel and the itinerary for your The Netherlands file — each sold separately.
We are a B2B travel agency as well as a visa consultancy, working with partners including Riya Travel — so the flight reservation and the confirmed hotel booking both come from us, and you deal with one team. Every booking is a real one under your own name. We do not sell travel insurance: buy the policy directly from an insurer.
None of them is part of our visa fee: each is bought on its own, at the price below, with or without our visa service.
Flight reservation ₹708 (+₹472 per extra family member) · Confirmed hotel booking ₹590 per hotel · Travel itinerary ₹1,499. GST included.
Delivery. Usually within 30 minutes during office hours, Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00 IST. Confirmed hotel bookings are not bought online: message us first on WhatsApp or email info@sureshotvisa.com with the city, dates and travellers.
Tell us your dates — we will say which of these you actually need
What to gather
Having a document isn't the same as presenting it right — that's the part we handle.
Filled ONLINE only.
May be waived if biometrics given for a Schengen visa within the last 59 months.
Original + colour copy. The central identity document for seafarers.
Must include ALL of the following: your personal details, date of issue and validity of your passport, date of issue and validity of your seafarer's book, your job title/rank, ship name, place of embarkation and disembarkation, entry/exit dates in/out of the Schengen area, entry airport (if travelling by air), travel route to the Netherlands, name and address of the Indian shipping agent assisting with the visa, the shipping company sponsoring you, and flight reservation (if by air).
Reason for visit, duration, fellow travellers, transport, accommodation.
Hotel reservation for the pre-embarkation stay, OR specified in the invitation letter from the shipping company.
Personal bank statements (last 3 months, stamped + signed) OR Indian ITR for the last 2 years. If shipping company is covering costs, state this in the invitation letter.
Flight ticket and itinerary — can also be provided in the invitation letter.
Valid across Schengen, covering the entire pre-embarkation period.
Required · optional / if applicable
8 steps from intake to approval — never as linear as government sites pretend.
Confirm port is in the Netherlands
Blue Carpet via Dutch embassy applies if your port of embarkation/disembarkation is in the Netherlands — regardless of ship flag. Other Schengen ports → apply to that country.
Obtain the invitation letter from the Dutch shipping company
Ensure it contains ALL required elements (passport details, seafarer's book dates, rank, ship name, ports, dates, airport, route, shipping agent, sponsor, flight reservation).
Complete the online Schengen application form
Fill online, print, sign.
Gather supporting documents
CDC (original + copy), bank statements, travel insurance, cover letter, flight/accommodation proof.
Apply up to 9 months before departure
Blue Carpet allows an extended window — apply early, especially for complex crew-change schedules.
Book VFS appointment (or waiver)
If biometrics given for a Schengen visa in the last 59 months, in-person submission may be waived. Otherwise book via the VFS portal.
Submit + pay fees
€90 visa fee + ₹1,855 VFS service charge.
Track + collect
Priority processing under Blue Carpet — often faster than the standard 15-day window.
Biometrics and the visit to the visa centre are yours to attend in person — no consultancy can do those for you. How we work
What works
12 levers that flip a borderline case.
What kills cases
Top 3 refusal triggers we see.
Each link opens the official page that issues the form (we never host third-party forms) — download or fill the current version there.
We're actively building per-visa quizzes. For now, the best way to assess your eligibility for Netherlands Seafarer Visa — Blue Carpet Programme (Schengen Type C) is a 1-on-1 consultation with our team.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Frequently asked
No. Blue Carpet applies to any shipping company — regardless of the ship's flag — as long as your port of embarkation or disembarkation is in the Netherlands.
Yes. Entry point doesn't matter for Blue Carpet. What matters is that your port of embarkation is a Dutch port. You can enter Schengen at any airport — Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, etc.
Up to 9 months before departure — one of the key Blue Carpet advantages (vs the standard 6-month window).
No. If you've given biometrics for a Schengen visa within the last 59 months, personal appearance may be waived under Blue Carpet.
Yes — provided they are travelling for genuine maritime training or to join a ship. An invitation from the Dutch institute/company is required.
The visa's "From" and "Until" dates govern your entry window. Minor schedule changes within that window are fine. Major changes (different port country, long delays) may require re-application — contact the embassy/shipping company.
Typically 1 to several years, depending on your maritime travel history and employer profile. Blue Carpet is designed for frequent crew-change scenarios.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Reviewed by Sherbir Singh Grewal, SureshotVisa — a government-licensed consultancy (Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024). Verify us.
A strong The Netherlands file clearly explains your travel purpose, funds, and ties to India. We structure and submit everything properly — so your case is presented clearly and professionally.
Our professional fee · GST included
₹4,999GST included
File-ready in 3–5 working days after documents
5★ · 110+ reviews · reply in 5 min
Everything below — included, nothing extra
Not included in our fee: a flight reservation (from ₹708) and a confirmed hotel booking (₹590 per hotel). Book them separately, only if your visa needs them:
Not sure you qualify? Start with a refundable ₹499 possibility report — an honest Yes / Maybe / No, credited to this fee.
Price is for our consultancy service only and includes 18% GST. No agency can guarantee a visa — the final decision rests with the visa authority.
Your fee, in one glance
Government, VFS, insurance, ticket and hotel costs are separate and charged at cost. Read what each item means, in full.
Before you file
Filed on a guessed checklist, the government fee is gone on a refusal and the refusal follows every future application. Filed after a consultant at our licensed firm has read the papers against each other, the file answers the officer's questions before they are asked. Same The Netherlands rules, different outcome. How we do that is written once, in full, on the method page rather than repeated here.
A consultant at our licensed firm replies today
Source & Disclaimer
Data on this page is sourced from the official VFS Global The Netherlands website and Embassy of The Netherlands. Last verified 2026-04-24. Always verify with the official embassy before applying — fees and requirements change without notice.
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