Schengen visa-free travel faces tougher EU rules amid security concerns

The European Council has formally approved an update to the EU’s mechanism for suspending visa-free travel for nationals of third countries who do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area.

The amended rules are designed to allow the EU to respond more swiftly and effectively to situations in which visa-free travel is abused or runs counter to its interests, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Council.

“There will be new grounds for triggering the suspension mechanism. When the new amendments enter into force, the EU will be able to revoke a country’s visa-free status if this third country lacks alignment with EU’s visa policy. Furthermore, when a country runs an investor citizenship scheme whereby citizenship is granted to people who have no genuine link to the third country concerned the EU can stop the visa exemption of this country. The same will be the case when the EU’s relations with a country deteriorate, for instance in the event of human rights violations,” the Council stated.

The updated rules also lower the threshold for triggering the suspension. “A threshold of 30% – instead of the previous threshold of 50% – quantifies substantial increases of cases of refused entry and overstay, asylum applications, and serious criminal offences,” the Council said.

Under the new framework, the duration of an initial suspension increases to 12 months from the previous nine months, with the possibility of extending it by an additional 24 months, up from 18 months. This longer temporary suspension period allows the EU to engage with the third country to address the issues that prompted the suspension before any permanent revocation of visa-free travel is enacted.

The new mechanism also foresees a targeted approach to ending the visa exemption. “Whereas currently all citizens of a country are affected by the suspension of the visa-free regime when the initial period is being extended, under the new rules the additional 24-month suspension phase would not automatically affect the entire population. Instead, the EU could decide to (continue) targeting  government officials and diplomats,” the statement by the Council explained.

The regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day after its publication in the EU’s Official Journal and will be directly binding and applicable across all EU member states.

By Vafa Guliyeva