Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
The Visapoint system was used to regulate the submission of documents at Czech consulates in various countries around the world, meaning a foreign citizen could only submit documents after obtaining a slot for a specific time, following successful online registration. In Ukraine, this was practically impossible, and citizens complained about the inability to register and about the extortion of intermediaries operating around Visapoint.
Now the system has been abolished by a decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. For a comment on what will replace it, Radio Prague turned to the head of the Visa Department of the Czech Foreign Ministry, David Nový.
– Was the decision to abolish the system planned long ago?
– The question of what to do with Visapoint had been discussed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a long time, so this decision was not sudden. We thought about it for a long time, and a number of factors played a role in pushing us to make the final decision to terminate the system.
– Visapoint faced critical assessment – primarily its operation in Ukraine. Is the decision related to this criticism?
– I won't argue that the system itself and its functioning had been criticized for years. However, it should be noted that this criticism was only voiced regarding a few countries and concerned only 4-5 Czech consulates. Visapoint worked quite well for many years in more than 30 countries, at 37 Czech consulates. So criticism was not the main reason for discontinuing Visapoint. There are other factors: for example, the contract with the company that provided Visapoint services expired. Also, several decisions concerning visa procedures were issued by Czech courts. So all these factors together pushed us to decide to terminate the system.
– For citizens of other states, this decision came as a complete surprise. So foreign citizens planning a trip to the Czech Republic who need a visa found themselves in a difficult situation. Ukrainians no longer need a Schengen visa for short-term trips, and they can plan their tourist trips to Europe without worrying about visas. However, the same cannot be said for Russian citizens. Many residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities are planning to come to Prague for Christmas – this is a very popular trip. Will this affect the tourism business?
– This will not negatively affect Russian tourists. It should be recalled that Schengen tourist visas have never gone through the Visapoint system in Russia. Only applicants who applied for long-term visas or work cards had to register there. So if a Russian citizen plans a short-term tourist trip to the Czech Republic, for example, for Christmas or New Year, they will, as before, apply for their Schengen visa through the visa center or directly at the consulate, and no registration through any system is needed there. So the abolition of Visapoint will not negatively affect the tourism business.
– Thank you for the clarification. And what awaits people who planned to apply for long-term stay in the Czech Republic, and what will replace Visapoint?
– Registrations for the entire November have already been made, because through Visapoint, registration was always done one month in advance. So everyone who wanted to submit an application in November has an appointment. On November 24, a new system will start operating. Consulates in different countries will use their own system – either by email, or by phone, or both. The difference will only be in the change in the organization of work of our consulates and in the fact that applicants will submit applications not through Visapoint, but, for example, by email. They will provide the same data: they will send a copy of the passport page or other documents. And the registered emails will be sent to the respective consulate.
– So the applicant will no longer need to fill out a form on the Internet, where the system gives them a single specific time to submit documents at the consulate?
– No, that will no longer happen. There will only be an application that the foreign citizen sends to the email address of the respective consulate, they will send certain data about themselves, and then wait for a response from the consulate indicating the exact date and time for submission.
– Will the consulates be able to handle such a flow of applications, since the Visapoint system did regulate the number of applications? Apparently, in Ukraine there will still be many applications for work permits and long-term stay. Will consular staff be able to organize their work effectively?
– I think they will, because they worked effectively even before Visapoint, so we hope they will manage now as well.
However, it should be noted that no system – neither Visapoint, nor email, nor phone – will allow registering absolutely all applicants in some countries and satisfying the high demand that exists there. Everything is related to the staffing and other capabilities of the consulates. One should not expect that without Visapoint, the consulate will immediately register everyone who wants to.
– How would you generally assess the level of interest of Ukrainian citizens in obtaining work cards and applying for long-term stay in the Czech Republic?
– Of course, the interest of Ukrainians in coming to the Czech Republic for work and applying for long-term stay is very high. It should be emphasized that today in Ukraine there are no problems with applying for or submitting documents for a Schengen work visa, a long-term student visa, family reunification, or for any other purpose except a work card. This is the only type of residence permit in the Czech Republic where Ukrainians face problems with long waiting times for submitting documents.