Main information/Analitics
The visa practices of the EU and Schengen Member States 2011: the monitoring outcomes
Today EWB has presented the results of the fifth wave of independent monitoring on issuing visas by the EU Consular offices to Ukrainian citizens with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. The results of research, main conclusions and ratings of 20 EU and Schengen consulates were announced in the presence experts, state actors, the representatives of the diplomatic services, the representatives from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Media. Here are the main conclusions.
Socio-demographic characteristics:
Most of the visa applicants are the citizens between 20 and 40 years old.
• The vast majority of applicants in Kyiv (71%) and in the regions (56%) have the completed higher education, while a third of applicants from the regions are with secondary education.
• Most respondents in Kyiv (70%) and more than half of respondents, interviewed in the regions (62%) have a permanent job. Among those who do not work, the largest group consists of students and pensioners. But the "students" group clearly dominates among the unemployed in Kyiv - more than half of that category, and about 15% of the total number of travelers.
• The representatives of private sector (skilled employees with higher education) constitute the largest group of travelers to the EU countries. Governmental officials of different levels and public sector workers is the second largest group. The employees of the agricultural sector is the smallest group.
• The Kyiv residents consist almost 40% of Ukrainian travelers, are the citizens of other regional centers - 30% of travelers and only those who live in rural areas consist 6% of travelers. The 58% of respondents live in the same place where the consulate is located, but the quarter of respondents overcome the distance from 100 to 500 km to reach the consulate. Implementation of the Ukraine-EU Visa Facilitation Agreement Ukraine and provisions of the EU Visa Code
Implementation of the Ukraine-EU Visa Facilitation Agreement Ukraine and provisions of the EU Visa Code
• The largest category of applicants is "the entrepreneurs and businessmen" (about a quarter of all respondents), however, less than half of this category go to the EU with working (the business) purposes, which limits their right to receive privileges. The "close relatives of persons-residents of EU countries" is the second category of frequent travelers (the fifth part of respondents). Most of the representatives of this privileged group of travelers make their trip in accordance with the purpose (visiting relatives), which gives them the right to benefit from privileges set by VFA.
• Among applicants of the regional consulates the largest group does not associate itself with any privileged category (1/4 of respondents) while "the entrepreneurs and businessmen" constitute the second largest group in the regional consulates.
• The vast majority of applicants receive short-term visas (category "C") for a single visit. The greatest number of visas of category «D» is the national visas for long term stay and they are issued by the consular offices of Poland and Estonia, while the proportion of visas is about 7% and it is slightly decreased in comparison to the year 2010.
• There was a slow increase in the share of long-term multiple visas valid for three to six months – about 11.6% (last year - 9%). The total share of visas, valid for over 6 months to one year, has increased from 13% to 17.3%, the lion's share of which are the "one year" visas.
• However, the half of multiple-entry visas still has a short validity: to three months, which indicates a failure of the EU Visa Code provisions by the consulates (Article 24, paragraph 2). This Article provides the issuance of long-term visa for 6 months or more. The visas valid for more than a year are still unavailable for Ukrainian citizens. The amount of such visas is less than one percent - 0.4%.
• The largest amount of multiple-entry visas were issued by the consulates of Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The first place on issuing the long-term visas is occupied by the Hungarian consular service primarily due to liberal politics of the consulates located in Transcarpathia (total - 64%), followed by - Poland (54%) and Slovakia (48%). The smallest amount of multiple-entry visas was detected in the consulates of Lithuania (6.7%) and Greece (12.2%)
· For more than a half of respondents the visa application procedure took from 7 to 10 days. The most precise in meeting of deadlines in visa application procedure are the Lithuanian and Swedish Consulates.
· There was marginal decrease in the number of free of charge visas: from 31% in the last year to 28% in this year. The vast majority of applicants paid for a visa – 71%. Instead the smallest amount of free of charge visas were issued by the consulates of the Netherlands (3,3%), Spain (6,7%) and Denmark (1.7%). The largest amount was issued by the Austrian (43,3%), Slovak (42,5%), CzechRepublic (41,7%) and German (40%) Consulates.
· The largest number of additional documents was required by the consulates of Belgium, Netherlands and Spain. The group of “demanding” Consulates, which required the additional documents includes Italian, Portugal, and French Consulates · Consulates started to use the practice of return report to the Consulate after applicant return from the EU and Schengen area. Such practice has been mainly used by the diplomatic missions of Spain and Germany
· In most cases of visa denials Consular officials provide applicants with the written explanation of denial and the appeal procedure. However, more than a half of applicants which were denied in visa do not use their right of appeal.
To be continued...
