Visa News

Getting Shengen visa is an ordeal for Russians

The European Union toughens the visa regime for the third world citizens beginning with the next year as a measure against terrorism and illegal migration. This will first of all concern people in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Thus, the EU may in fact nullify a treaty on simplification of mutual trips of citizens from Russia and CIS signed in May. The initiative is connected with introduction of biometric passports with information about retina, dactylogram and other data in EU beginning with 2007. This will also entail registration of more documents and interviews for many hours.

Today, getting a Shengen visa may take weeks for Russians, and in the future the procedure will probably take several months.

EU officials give no sufficient reason explaining why the getting visa procedure is made tougher. They say that Russian and Ukrainian passports are easy for forging and that the borders are not secure enough. EU also fears that cheap manpower from former Soviet republics may flood European countries.

“The visa regime toughening seems to be a purely political innovation”, as we read in Pravda, one of the leading Russian newspapers. “Toughening of the visa regime with Russia will make millions of Russian-speaking Europeans indignant. On the other hand, EU will have a huge neighbour which citizens will be negatively minded towards EU.”

Source: http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/354/16132_shengen.html

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/world/2005/5/14/36/20796_ES.html