2023-05-17 05:59:30
AA / Bruxelles / Omer Tugrul Cam
The European Commission criticized, on Tuesday, the member countries of the Schengen area for the excessive delays in the procedures for issuing visas.
“The steady increase in global travel has led to a sharp increase in Schengen visa applications, leading to significant slowness in granting appointments and processing visa applications, as revealed by assessments conducted in 2022 “, says the 2023 report on the situation in the Schengen area.
It adds that Member States “frequently provide inadequate and inaccurate information regarding the visa application process, which has an impact on the assessment of migration and security risks.”
The European Commission also said that in some cases, applicants paid up to 500 euros ($552) “to agencies or individuals just to get an appointment.”
She warned that “the consequences of these shortcomings are multiple, ranging from damage to the reputation of Member States and the EU as a whole, to economic damage, particularly in the tourism sector, not to mention the destabilization family interactions and disruption of business relationships”.
The report recommends that Member States “deploy sufficient and appropriate staff in consulates to carry out the tasks related to the examination of applications, in order to ensure the quality of service to the public”.
It clarifies that these states “can use EU funding under their national programs under the Border and Visa Management Instrument (BMVI) 2021-2027, the Integrated Border Management Fund ( “IBMF”), with an envelope of 88 million euros (95.6 million dollars).
“Issuing more multiple-entry visas with a long validity period would also make progress in terms of efficiency,” added the European Commission.
With the end of most COVID-era restrictions, Turkish authorities said last year that many citizens seeking visas to travel to EU member states faced months of delays. expectation, excessively cumbersome procedures and very high fees for simply applying, regardless of whether or not they obtain a visa.
The Schengen area brings together almost all EU member states that have lifted visa controls within their common borders.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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