Annexes to COM(2018)251 - Adapting the common visa policy to new challenges - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2018)251 - Adapting the common visa policy to new challenges. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2018)251  |
| date | March 14, 2018 |
3.4. More
streamlined visa procedures and facilitating short-term tourism
One general objective of visa policy, namely facilitating travel for legitimate travellers, should also be addressed. On this issue, the Commission proposes to retain a number of proposals from the Visa Code recast intended to simplify the visa application procedures. These include the possibility of applying for a visa longer in advance, electronic completion and signature of the visa application form and shorter deadlines for deciding on an application.
The Commission also proposes introducing some flexibility for bona fide applicants in order to promote short tourism trips and spur economic growth in the EU. This would include allowing Member States to issue single-entry visas at the external border under a special scheme on a temporary basis and under strict conditions. Visas issued under this scheme would be valid only for the issuing Member State for one entry and for a stay of a maximum 7 days.
4. TOWARDS ENHANCED SECURITY BY REVISING THE VISA
INFORMATION SYSTEM AND MAKING FULL USE OF
INTEROPERABILITY
Another important component of the framework underpinning visa policy is the Visa Information System (VIS). Since 2011, the VIS9 has served as the technology solution facilitating the visa procedure and helps Member States’ authorities to: (i) check rapidly and effectively the necessary information about third-country nationals who need a visa to travel to the EU; and (ii) make decisions on visa applications. The Entry Exit System (EES), that will be operational as of 2020 and is conceived as being fully interoperable with the VIS, will enhance the functioning of the VIS by providing information on the use made by third-country nationals of their visas, and will help to establish the bona fide status of visa holders who already visited the Schengen area.
The VIS was also part of a broader process of reflection on the interoperability of information systems. This process led to the interoperability proposal to make EU IT systems in the area of security, border and migration management work together in a smarter and more efficient way. At the core of interoperability sits a single EES-ETIAS-VIS platform that will provide a major step forward in data collection and exchange of information for visas, security, and border and migration management. A single search platform (the European Search Portal) will make it possible to carry out a single search and receive results from different systems. This in turn will facilitate more efficient background checks on visa applicants, thus contributing to increasing security in the area without internal border control. In that context, the upcoming revision of the VIS legal framework10 to be presented in spring will include specific interoperability measures to increase the efficiency of visa processing (see Section 4.1). The proposal is also likely to address other issues identified in the evaluation of VIS carried out in 2016 (see Sections 4.2 and 4.3). The preparatory work for the VIS proposal, including technical studies and an impact assessment, which will also analyse the impact on fundamental rights, is ongoing.
By January 2018, over 52 million visa applications and nearly 45 million fingerprints had been registered in the VIS.
The revision will concern the following legal acts: Council Decision 2004/512/EC of 8 June 2004 establishing the Visa Information System (VIS founding Decision), Council Decision 2008/633/JHA of 23 June 2008 (VIS Law Enforcement Access Decision), Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European
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4.1. Enhancing
checks in visa processing using interoperability
Under the existing rules, consulates are only obliged to check travellers under a visa obligation in the Schengen Information System (SIS) to determine whether a visa applicant is subject to an entry ban. There is currently no obligation to check visa applicants against any other available EU databases (e.g. EURODAC), or against Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database and Travel Documents Associated with Notices database11. Once ETIAS is in place, visa-free travellers to the EU will have to undergo background checks in all relevant EU databases.
Therefore, to better prevent security and migratory risks and while respecting the principle of necessity and proportionality of EU action, the Commission will analyse whether the rules on visa processing should be amended to ensure at least comparable background verification of visa-required and visa-free travellers.
Once in place, the European Search Portal will allow competent authorities — including visa issuing authorities — to carry out a single search and receive results from all systems they are authorised to access (including EURODAC, EES and the European Criminal Records Information System — Third Country Nationals) rather than searching in each system individually. The European Search Portal will contribute to the detection of security and irregular migration risks in the visa procedure by enabling visa officers to perform quick and efficient background checks on visa applicants.
The interoperability proposal also aims to make it easier to detect multiple identities and counter identity fraud. Using this interoperability feature, the visa authority processing an application will be notified automatically if the applicant is known under different identities and will be able to take the appropriate course of action.
4.2. Closing remaining information gaps for borders and security: include long-stay
visas and residence documents in the VIS
The Final Report of the High-level expert group12 identified an information gap at EU level concerning the documents that allow third-country nationals to stay on the territory of a given EU Member State for longer than 90 days in any 180 days13. Today, data on these documents and their holders are not collected and the data cannot be verified through any of the EU large-scale IT systems in the area of border and security (except SIS, to a limited extent). Member States consider that the current management of these documents leads to shortcomings in the facilitation of border crossing of third country nationals and their subsequent free movement in the area without internal border control. Member States have thus requested the Commission to assess whether a central EU repository of information on long-stay visas and residence visas is necessary, feasible and proportional to address the existing information gap regarding these categories of third country nationals.14
13 14
Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database (SLTD) and the Travel Documents Associated
with Notices (TDAWN) database contain information on travel documents linked to individuals who
are subject to an Interpol notice.
The High-level expert group was set up by the Commission in June 2017 as an advisory body to
improve the EU’s data management architecture for border control and security. Its final report was
adopted on 11 May 2017.
E.g. long-stay visas and residence documents (including both residence permits and residence cards).
Roadmap to enhance information exchange and information management including interoperability
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A technical study into the feasibility of establ ishing a central EU repository of information on long-stay visas and residence documents was finalised in September 2017. The study concluded that a repository as part of the VIS would provide the most feasible solution in terms of IT security, ease of implementation and cost effectiveness.
4.3. Addressing remaining information gaps in short-stay visa processing: lowering
the fingerprinting age of applicants and storing copies of travel documents in the
VIS
The Commission is also assessing the following issues:
• The possibility to lower the fingerprinting age for children for whom a visa is required, and storing the fingerprints in the VIS. This would better protect children
and fight against trafficking and irregular migration while keeping the child’s best
interests at the forefront.
• The possibility to store in the VIS copies of travel documents submitted by visa applicants during the visa procedure. This would make it possible to run enhanced checks of these documents and increase the efficiency of return procedures. This
measure would support the EU’s return policy, but would rely on the VIS for its
im ple m entation.
5. STRENGHTENING COHERENCE BETWEEN EU VISA POLICY AND
OTHER POLICIES
The EU common visa policy is an increasingly important component of the EUs external relations in a globalised world. Obtaining or maintaining visa-free travel to the EU for their citizens is for many partner countries a key political priority in their relations with the EU.
The coherence between visa policy and commitments made in other policy areas, notably trade agreements, should be looked at, as well as coherence between the common visa policy
and bilateral visa waiver
agreements concluded by Member States with certain third countries.
The new generation of EU trade agreements currently being negotiated typically include the services sector, allowing individuals to invest and provide services on the other party’s territory. Regarding the temporary presence of such people on the Member States’ territory, the preliminary analysis in the Commission’s fitness check on the Legal Migration Directives confirms that some of the categories of service providers covered in the trade agreements (e.g. service providers that are allowed stays up to 6 months in every 12 months) are not covered either by the Visa Code or by the existing legislation on legal migration. The Commission will analyse how to strengthen synergies between, on the one hand, commitments made in trade agreements, and on the other hand, the EU’s visa policy and legal migration policies with regard to these categories of service providers.
In addition, further analysis is needed of the bilateral visa waiver agreements concluded by Member States with certain third countries prior to the entry into force in 1999 of the Treaty of Amsterdam when visa policy became a common policy. These bilateral agreements are still in force because the Member States and the third countries concerned attach great value to them, mainly for historical and political reasons. Yet not only should such bilateral agreements have no place in a truly common policy, they also structurally do not fit as the third country nationals covered by these agreements could extend their stay in the area
without internal border control almost indefinitely.15 The EES Regulation provides that an assessment will be made of these agreements 3 years after the Entry/Exit System enters into operation. In this context, the Commission will launch a reflection on what form and scope a future EU instrument to replace them could take, including by studying options for visa-free stays longer than 90 days in the area without internal borders for nationals of certain selected third countries.
The suspension mechanism allowing temporary suspension of the exemption from the visa requirement for nationals of a third country listed in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No
539/200116 has been recently revised. In
has been recently revised. In parallel, the development of new information systems for border and migration management such as EES and ETIAS, and the interoperability between relevant databases, will also contribute to reducing irregular migration and security risks. In the light of this, the Commission considers that any future proposals to transfer a third country to Annex II must be assessed in particular in the light of irregular migration risks and security threats. If necessary, such proposals must be made conditional, on a case-by-case basis, on the third countries concerned having already implemented certain measures such as issuing biometric passports or concluding a readmission agreement. Such measures would be identified in line with the criteria set by
Regulation (EC) 539/200117.
6. TOWARDS DIGITAL VISAS18
The Commission intends to launch a debate that will prepare the way for reflection on whether it should move towards digital visas.
Despite major technological advances since the Visa Code was adopted, visa applications are still largely processed using procedures pre-dating the digital revolution. While the current visa process is already partly electronic, as applications and decisions are registered in VIS, two important steps remain paper-based, namely submitting the visa application with the required supporting documents and the actual issuing of the visa sticker. These are the two steps in which applicants are most directly involved, as they have to present themselves at the consulate/external service provider: (i) when submitting the application and, for first-time applicants, having their fingerprints taken; and (ii) when they collect the travel document at the end of the process. Several countries (e.g. the US, Australia, Turkey) have already started moving towards e-visa programmes and some Member States have also launched (partial) electronic visa application procedures.
In the second half of 2017, discussions on digitalising visa processing began with Member States in the Council with a view to further enhancing and facilitating current visa processing practices19. The discussions focused on two concrete possibilities: (i) replacing the physical visa sticker by a ‘digital visa’; (ii) replacing the current paper-based application by an online application procedure.
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For example, there is at least one third country which has 16 bilateral visa waiver agreements with
Schengen countries, which enable their nationals, in theory at least, to legally stay in the area without
internal border control up to 51 months (16x3 + 1x3).
Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 ‘listing the third countries whose nationals
must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt
from that requirement’, OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1.
The Commission is also adopting today a proposal to codify this Regulation. This codification is being
proposed to improve the accessibility and transparency of this legislation without changing its
substantive rules in line with standard codification practice.
In this paper, the term ‘digital visas’ includes both digital visas and online application.
7
Most Member States are interested in the use of digital visas. Lower costs for consulates and having a speedier, more efficient and client-friendly application process were among the potential advantages they cited. There was, however, also understanding that many aspects would require further in-depth assessment and studies and that priority should be given to developing and implementing EES, ETIAS and the interoperability proposals.
The Commission also believes that digital visas are the way forward for the longer term and will therefore launch feasibility studies by end-2018. In this light, the Commission considers it necessary to launch the debate with stakeholders on how technological developments can be exploited to further streamline and simplify visa processing for the benefit of applicants and consulates. This debate will involve assessing options and promoting pilot projects, which would prepare the ground for future proposals. In this context, the results of the pilot projects that some Member States are already implementing can feed into the political debate.
Furthermore, some Member States have already started to transfer the decision-making on visa applications from consulates to central authorities. A debate should therefore be launched on whether, and under which circumstances, the integrity and security of visa processing can be safeguarded in such cases. Such a debate will need to consider, on the one hand, the importance of knowledge of local circumstances in the migratory risk assessment involved in each visa application decision and, on the other hand, the advantages of a centralised approach in terms of efficiency and transparency.
7. CONCLUSION
The EU common visa policy is an essential element for ensuring the security and proper functioning of the area without internal border control. It has facilitated legitimate travel to the EU and has gone a long way towards ensuring harmonisation in Member States’ visa issuing practices. In addition, visa policy has developed from an internal policy into an increasingly important external relations tool for the EU.
Despite this solid track record, the legal framework underpinning visa policy needs to be adapted to the current challenges, in particular the increased irregular migration and security risks. To this end, the Commission is proposing today a number of amendments to the Visa Code and calls on Parliament and the Council to adopt them swiftly. Amendments to the VIS legal framework will follow later in spring.
In parallel, the Commission will, together with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, work on ensuring coherence between the EU visa policy and the EU external relations to better serve the EU’s interests, including the consistency of visa policy with other policy areas.
Looking into the future, the Commission will initiate discussions with Parliament, the Member States and other stakeholders on the further digitalisation of visa processing. Studies to be launched by end-2018 will also feed into the discussions. The need for sufficient financial resources will be an important element to take into consideration in the post- 2020 multi-annual Financial Framework.