Europe tightens visa regime with Ukraine

Photo © Flickr/ Oona Raisanen

Sputnik International reports:

Sixteen of the 22 Schengen countries significantly reduced the number of visas issued to Ukrainians over the last year.

The number of Schengen visas issued to Ukrainians significantly decreased compared with 2013, according to the newspaper “Evropeyskaya Pravda.”

The information was confirmed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on European Integration.

Klimkin admitted that some consulates deliberately do not issue visas to Ukrainians. He also assured that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently negotiating the issue and demanding a return to the previous practice.

At the same time, Schengen countries have tightened requirements for visa applications, the newspaper Vesti reported. They started demanding from Ukrainians documents from the so-called ‘non-binding list’ and checking their authenticity. Experts warn that people have now to plan a trip no later than six weeks before the expected date.

Statistics for the previous year serve as proof of the current trend.  Switzerland and Finland have refused to issue visas three times more often; the number of refusals from Spain, Portugal, Greece and Sweden has almost doubled.

As reported by Korrespondent.net, the application procedure for a tourism or work visa has become even more complicated since June 23.

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