Visa Facilitation Agreement to boost economy
The Armenia-EU visa facilitation agreement will boost economic development and catalyze intercultural relations, the head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Traian Hristea, said in Yerevan during a seminar entitled "EU Visa Facilitation for Armenia".
The EU official cited the example of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine where the process launched in 2009 and has less been time-consuming. The ambassador stressed that unequivocally positive results had been observed in the countries since they signed the agreement.
We did not observe any risks of illegal migration during the reporting period. About 5,3 mln students from these three countries have been granted entry visas to continue studies in EU countries," said Mr Hristea.
The EU and Armenia initialed the Visa Facilitation Agreement on 18 October 2012 in Brussels. This agreement typically provides procedural facilitations for nationals of specific country without altering the conditions for issuing visas (i.e. the visa applicant must still satisfy the entry conditions). The agreement is expected to be signed in December. By a decision of the Armenian government, starting January 1, 2013, citizens of EU countries can arrive in Armenia without visas.
Visa facilitation between the EU and Armenia would entail the simplification of documentary evidence in support of the visa application, reducing the visa fee to 35 Euro and waiving it for specific categories of travellers, reduced processing time of all visa applications and the possibility of issuing multiple-entry visas with a long period of validity. The eligible categories of travellers include journalists, students, participants in cultural, artistic and sport exchanges, civil society organizations and persons travelling for medical reasons and others.
