Immigration: EU to Sign Visa Facilitation Agreement with Belarus

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The Council of the European Union has authorized the signing of an agreement with Belarus to facilitate the visa procedures and lower the fees for nationals of the latter traveling to the Schengen Zone.

The move comes after the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed the visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the European Union in September, asserting that Belarus had completed all the domestic procedures for the signing to take place. Shortly after, the European Union ambassadors also approved the visa-facilitation plan with Belarus, taking the country one step closer to the signing of the final agreement.

According to a Council decision, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the negotiations on the initialing of the Agreement via an exchange of emails were successfully finalized in June 2019.

“On 28 February 2011, the Council authorized the Commission to open negotiations with the Republic of Belarus on an Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Belarus on the facilitation of the issuance of visas (‘the Agreement’), in parallel with the negotiations of an Agreement on the readmission of persons residing without authorization. The negotiations were successfully concluded by the initialing of the Agreement via exchange of emails on 17 June 2019,” the decision reads.

The main purpose of the agreement is to facilitate the issuance of visas for an intended stay of a maximum of 90 days within a 6-month period on the basis of reciprocity, for both the EU block and Belarus.

After the visa facilitation plans come into force Belarus passport holder traveling to the Schengen territory for short-term purposes as tourism and business will have to pay a visa fee of €35 instead of €60 as it is now.

The decision does not apply to the UK, Ireland, and Denmark.

According to Dirk Schuebel, head of the European Union’s Delegation to Belarus, the next major step is the signing of the agreements by both parts, and then the European Parliament will need to give the green light to the conclusion of the two agreements and then the Council of the European Union should proceed with the adoption of the decisions on the conclusion of the two agreements.

“The two agreements will enter into force simultaneously on the first day of the second month following the date on which the parties notify each other that the ratification procedures have been completed. Once the visa facilitation agreement has entered into force, the visa fee will be automatically reduced to 35 euros for all Belarusian citizens. Many categories of Belarusian citizens – depending on their travel purpose – will be able to have visa fee requirements waived and will be able to obtain longer-validity multiple-entry visas in a simplified manner,” Schuebel explains.

The former Soviet Republic of Belarus is one of the few European countries the citizens of which still need to apply for and get a visa in order to travel to the Schengen area of the European Union. The negotiations on visa facilitation for Belarus citizens had started almost six years ago, in January 2014.

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