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I am applying for a Schengen visa in the US through German consulate by mail and am looking at the visa fees. The page says that the visa fee is approx. $65-70, and the price for mailing the passport back is $25.

So should I put $95, or some more? Also, should I just put cash into the envelope along with other application materials?

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    Which German Consulate are you applying to? Note that they have very particular rules about when you can apply by mail, so I'd make sure you've met all those requirements.
    – Zach Lipton
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 1:34
  • I'm applying to San Francisco. I've had a visa issued from this consulate a year ago, so this should be fine.
    – nan
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 2:21
  • You may want to check with the USPS or FedEx / UPS as mailing cash usually comes with a lot of disclaimers. It would be far better to mail a money order.
    – Burhan Khalid
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 4:07

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The statutory fee for a short-stay visa from Germany is €60 EUR. What currency it is payable in may vary by consular section and country, but is generally always payable in the local currency at the current exchange rate.

In the US, this is converted to US dollars at the current rate of exchange and then rounded up to the next whole dollar.

Due to the fluctuating exchange rate, the dollar amount in the section "Overview of visa fees" is rounded up.

At the current exchange rate, €60 is $67.90 (mid-market), so would be rounded up to $68.

To account for any further fluctuation in the exchange rate between now and the time your application is received, you might want to throw in another dollar.

The San Francisco consulate says that FedEx return of your passport is exactly $19 USD. Since this is a purely domestic service, it doesn't need to be converted to or from euros.

To return your passport with the visa, we exclusively use FedEx. We charge an extra fee of 19,- US dollars for this service.

This gives us a total of $88. If you're mailing it in, you should use a money order; cash may not be safe to mail. Just to be sure, you should also enclose a brief explanation of the amount you have enclosed and the purpose.

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The general advice is not to send cash through the mail. The cash can easily be stolen and you'll be left with nothing. They will accept cash in person apparently, but since you are applying by mail (are you certain you meet all the requirements to apply by mail?), I would not send cash.

The "visa fees" page you linked says: "Fees are payable by cash or money order only." I would therefore send a money order, which you can obtain at any US Post Office for a small fee.

According to the San Francisco Consulate's page, the mailing fee is $19.

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