Immigration: EU Guidance on Visa Application Processing for Residents of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions

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The European Commission and the European External Action Service have completed the final guidance for the European Union Member States and the non-EU Schengen Countries on the processing of visa applications for the residents of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Commission and the EEAS have already sent the guidelines to the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, which provide a set of uniform criteria to help their consulates establish the actual place of legal residence of Russian passport holders.

According to a press release of the EU Commission, the guidance also provides the embassies and consulates with details on how to process visa applications by residents of the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions holding Russian passports.

“The guidance will help ensure that EU rules on Schengen visas are correctly and consistently applied in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, taking also into account that Ukrainian nationals have the possibility to acquire Ukrainian biometric passports and travel to the EU without a visa,” the press release reads.

The document guides the EU and Schengen consulates located in Russia to stop accepting Russian passports of the residents of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as the nationals of these regions should instead apply at the in the consulate of the relevant Schengen Member State in Ukraine.

It also clarifies that Ukrainian nationals holding biometric passports do not need a visa to travel to the Schengen area, as they are granted visa-free entry.

The document provides the Member States with a set of criteria to help their consulates identify the Russian passports issued to residents of the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They may form the basis for a non-recognition policy to be implemented by the Member States in the exercise of their exclusive competence.

Previously in July, the EU had decided not to grant Schengen visas to Crimea passport holders that received them after the annexation.

Later on August, Schengen Visa Info reported that the EU was working on guidelines for the identification and possible non-recognition of passports issued by Russia in the Donbas. At the time, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Lithuania had already decided to deny Schengen visas to residents of Donbass holding Russian passports, even without the EU adopting a unified decision.

On 24 April 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree, which would make it easier for residents of the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions to obtain Russian citizenship and receive Russian passports.

The decree enabled residents of these regions to apply for Russian citizenship by only using an identification document issued by the so-called ‘authorities’ in the non-Government controlled areas, without being required to reside in the Russian Federation.

Later on June, the European Council decided to consider further options, including the non-recognition of these passports issued in contradiction to the Minsk agreements.

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