From now on, visa matters in Schengen area countries are regulated by a single document
However, travel agencies say EU countries need time to prepare. “They say some EU countries will have to amend national legislation, so they won’t start explaining the reason for refusal at consulates soon,” Nina Blashkevich, director of the travel agency A-Line, told Gazeta.Ru.
The most obvious change was the introduction of a single application form for all Schengen countries. A sample can be seen on the websites of the embassies of Belgium and Finland. As previously reported to Gazeta.Ru by Vija Busha, head of the consular section of the Latvian Embassy in Russia, the single form has a different layout, but practically everything remains the same as in the old form. “The new form has 37 items, while the old form had 48 items,” said Ms. Busha.
According to her, the applicant will have to sign the document twice. “You will need to sign to certify your personal and travel details, and also at the end, confirming that all information about the rules of stay in Schengen countries has been read and understood,” the embassy representative explained. “In addition, at the end of the form there is information that the visa fee is non-refundable, and that a valid insurance for all trips is required for a multiple-entry visa. When submitting documents, only insurance covering the first trip is needed.”
Also, a new item 27 was added to the form, asking whether the applicant has provided fingerprints. “This is because the Visa Code introduces the requirement to collect biometric data, but this provision will be introduced gradually from the end of 2010,” said Ms. Busha. “For Russians, this will happen within 2 years. Currently, Russians can leave this field blank, although for the other items we require mandatory ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. The other changes, according to the head of the consular section, only clarify information currently in the forms.”
Although theoretically the new form was introduced on April 5, some countries started accepting it earlier, and others will start using it later. In particular, the Finnish embassy has been accepting new forms since March 29, while the French embassy has not yet decided on a date. “France has the option to postpone the introduction of the new form until autumn, and we have taken advantage of this, as adaptation is needed,” said Thomas Buffen, head of the press service of the French Embassy in Russia.
Some embassies, particularly Latvia and Belgium, state on their websites that from April 5 they will not accept old-style forms, but travel agencies say the rest have agreed to a transition period. “I had tourists who decided to go to Spain and they submitted an old-style form,” said travel agency director Nina Blashkevich. “I specifically called the consulate, and they replied that they would still process old forms for 2 weeks.”
Special attention should be paid to tourists traveling with children, as the Code requires obtaining a separate visa for each child. “If previously a child was included in an adult’s visa, now you must get a separate visa for the child, and this visa will be affixed to the passport in which the children are entered,” explained Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry. “If a mother is traveling with two children, her passport must have three blank pages – for herself and her two children. This must be kept in mind; otherwise, they will not be able to affix a visa for the children.”
The RST representative added that the document mainly contains instructions for consulates, not for tourists. “It spells out procedures for consulates in great detail,” Tyurina said. “Although many points formulated in the Code were already applied in practice. For example, now a consulate has the right to issue a one-year multiple-entry visa to a frequent traveler, even if he initially requested a single-entry visa. Previously, the Spanish, French and Estonians did this on their own initiative. Even before the Visa Code came into force, Greece took the same decision.”
In addition, the EU Representation in Russia recalls that the visa facilitation agreement between the Union and our country, signed in 2007, remains in effect. “In addition to a fixed visa fee of 35 euros, it implies simplification of the required documents package, an obligation to process applications within 10 days instead of 15, and exemption from the visa fee for a wide range of persons,” the Representation explained. “All this will continue after April 5.”
The new Visa Code was adopted by EU member states, except the UK and Ireland (Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus will begin applying the Visa Code once they become part of the Schengen area without internal border controls), as well as countries that are part of the Schengen area but not EU members (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland).
Anastasia BERSENEVA.
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