Russia-Eu Visa Facilitation Agreement

Diplomatic passport holders are exempt from the visa requirement for short-term stays. Agreements facilitating the issuance of visas promote contact between citizens between citizens and nationals of non-EU countries. The agreements facilitate the issuance of visas for short-term stays and do not exceed 90 days of stay within 180 days. Relations between the EU and Russia are unlikely to improve in the near future to allow for the signing and ratification of new legally binding agreements. Nevertheless, the visa dialogue could adopt the « OSCE method » with political commitments, parallel steps taken by both sides to meet these commitments and jointly verified progress. The more important issues, including those relating to the OSCE principles, will not be easy to resolve, but strengthening communication between citizens could help the EU, Russia and their common neighbours in the long run. 4. This agreement may be amended by the written agreement of the parties. The amendments come into effect after the parties have informed each other of the completion of their internal procedures necessary for this purpose.

HOLDER COMPTE of the joint declaration adopted at the St. Petersburg Summit of 31 May 2003, which stipulates that the European Union and the Russian Federation agree to consider visa waiver conditions as a long-term perspective, 3. For the categories of citizens covered in paragraph 1, all categories of visas are issued in accordasity under the simplified procedure, without the need to justify, invite or validate the purpose of the trip, as required by the parties` legislation. Multi-entry visas, with a validity of at least two years and a maximum duration of five years, are issued to the aforementioned categories of citizens, provided that they benefit from one-year multiple-entry visas in accordance with the law on entry and stay in the territory of the State visited and that the grounds for applying for multiple-entry visas remain valid. Visas are one of the most visible obstacles when travelling between Russia and the European Union. That is why the EU-Russia Forum is setting up a group of experts on visa projects for civil society to question visa issues. A second report outlining EU-Russia visa relations following the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis was recently published. The lifting of the visa requirement is a sign of compliance with the strict requirements of the European Union in each country.

So far, citizens of nearly 100 third countries need visas to enter the European Union. As the country`s relations with the EU improve and intensify, Brussels may decide to sign an agreement to facilitate the issuance of visas, reduce the cost of visas or allow certain social/professional groups to obtain multiple visas free of charge. Subsequently, visa liberalization may begin if visa facilitation works properly. As part of this process, (or negotiates a country with the EU) a list of reforms to be implemented before the visa exemption can be introduced[ 1]. Visa liberalisation is both technical (assessment of the implementation of reforms) and political (decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union). On the one hand, it ensures that EU Member States, that a visa-exempt country is a reliable partner, capable of controlling migration on and off its territory, properly managing personal data, not damaging, etc. On the other hand, even with its strong conditionality (it is only after the implementation of the reforms that visa liberalisation will be possible), a process encourages the countries associated to introduce systemic reforms that are unlikely to be implemented in the near future. Eastern Neighbours – Current situation, considering the EU`s eastern neighbours, the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) and Russia, only Belarus has no visa facilitation or visa liberalisation procedures.