European Union seeks to simplify its visa rules

April 03, 2014
European Union seeks to simplify its visa rules
On 1st April, 2014, an executive of the European Union had proposed to simplify the system of obtaining a visa for Schengen-area. For example: on issuing multiple-entry visas to the visitors, it would encourage them to come to European Union, which in turn could increase the income of the tourism sector.

Cecilia Malmstrom, EU Home Affairs, had said that Europe requires an intelligent visa policy, in order to attract more business people, artists, tourists, researchers and students to their continent.
 
Simultaneously, she wanted to allay the fears of the European Union about the immigrants, who enter the bloc illegally, by emphasizing that the rules would maintain a high level of safety at their borders.

The commission has said that the amendments to the rules could cause a rise of 60% in the number of visitors, who make their visit to the EU from 6 important nations- India, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Ukraine and South Africa. According to the commission, about 6.6 million potential visitors have been discouraged from visiting Europe in 2012 due to complicated visa rules.
 
The measures include reducing the visa procedure time, simplifying the application forms which include the online process, removing the requirement to have a travel insurance, providing 1 year visas in order to travel the bloc and authorizing the embassies of the European Union to manage the requests in the interest of other member states.

The commission has said that the European Parliament and the European Union member states have to approve these measures, which is unlikely to happen before 2015.
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