Why Armenians are not granted Schengen visas quicker? (video)
Visa rules for Armenian citizens planning to travel to the European Union have been simplified and now Armenians can get visas faster, easier and cheaper, show the results of a monitoring conducted by several organizations. Armenian citizens now face fewer hurdles to travel to the EU for short stays, under an EU-Armenia visa facilitation agreement that entered into effect in October 2013. Despite the positive results of the monitoring, many citizens complain of long queues in embassies, other say they have been denied a Schengen visa. “Facilitation does not mean granting privileges,” says Head of EU Delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea. Applicants are frequently denied visas because they are not sincere during interviews. The EU-Armenia visa facilitation agreement aims to facilitate the issue of short-stay visas for an intended stay of no more than 90 days per period of 180 days. The new rules will make the procedures quicker (the decision will have to be taken within 10 days, in urgent cases two days or less), cheaper (the visa fee for processing applications of Armenian citizens shall amount to 35 €) and less bureaucratic (the documents to be presented regarding the purpose of the journey have been simplified for some categories of persons, in particular for close relatives, members of official delegations, students, business people, journalists, scientists, etc). Will Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union prevent the process? Watch the video to know the answer.
