The Schengen Area
The Schengen group, or the Schengen area, includes the countries that have signed the Schengen
Agreement. Although the external
borders of this area are guarded with a great care, control on internal ones is
removed completely.
Safety in the Schengen area is guaranteed via the enhanced control of external
borders; close cooperation between the border control services, police forces, and
legal institutions of all Schengen countries; the implementation of a unified
Schengen visa policy; and the functioning of the Schengen Information System.
Expansion of the
Schengen Area
On December 6, 2007, the European
Union (EU) Council of Justice and Internal Affairs Ministers adopted a
resolution approving the decision of nine new states — Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Poland, Malta, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia — to join the
Schengen area. These nine states, joined by
Control at air borders will be
removed beginning
After the adoption of this
resolution, the Schengen area covers 25 states:
-
13
old member states of the EU: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Italy,
Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Finland, Sweden and Germany;
-
9
new member states of the EU:
-
3
states that do not belong to the EU:
The citizens of the 25 states that
belong to the Schengen group have equal rights to travel without any
restrictions.
The EU member states
Free Movement of People
The Schengen policy allows the removal of the
control of borders between Schengen states, sets common rules for the control
of external borders, prescribes a common visa policy, and overseas additional
internal border control instruments for special cases (for police and legal
cooperation in criminal cases). These regulations have the following direct
effect on the free movement of people:
·
no
border control on internal borders
·
people
crossing the external borders of the Schengen area are treated according to
common rules
·
at
airports and when possible at seaports, people travelling within the Schengen
area are differentiated from those coming from states that do not belong the
Schengen group
·
joint
rules for short-term visits and the issue of visas are applied
The most noticeable effect of the Schengen
Agreement on people is that a person crossing
the internal borders of Schengen
states does not have to pass through passport
control. This does not mean, however, that travelling within the Schengen
area is the same as travelling in one state and that no personal identity document
is required. Representatives of legal
institutions in any Schengen state are entitled to check the identity of a person present in their
territory according to the requirements of national legal acts. The laws of
each member state prescribe whether a person must have personal identity
documents or not. Citizens of any EU state are entitled to travel throughout
the EU for personal or business matters without restrictions — to enter any EU state without any special formalities — only with a valid passport or personal identity card in hand. An EU
citizen’s right to travel may be limited
only by certain considerations about public order, safety or health. Member
states reserve the possibility to apply temporary border control if any danger
to national safety or public order is suspected (e. g. the danger of a flood of
refugees). Border control may also be temporarily restored during global sports
events.
Great attention is paid to the
strengthening of the external borders of the Schengen area; this involves both
physical (implementation of new technologies and monitoring systems) and legal
(the application of harsher penalties for crossing a border illegally, a more
rigorous visa policy, and a special regimen for entering the Schengen area)
aspects.
The Schengen Information System
(SIS) is an electronic database containing information about undesirable or
wanted people (criminals, illegal aliens, etc.), thefts (stolen identity cards,
guns, vehicles, etc), and so on.
The Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is the main
document concerning the step-by-step removal of internal border control. It was
signed by five EU member states (
The Schengen Convention, signed in
1990, is a document about the implementation of the agreement concluded in
1985. The convention eliminates control on internal borders of states
that have signed the agreement, fixes
common rules for the control of external borders, and governs additional internal border control instruments in
special cases. The Schengen Convention came into force
in 1995; and in May 1999, when the
Amsterdam Treaty came into force, the convention
was included into the Acquis of the European Union.
Since then, the legal and
institutional basis of the European Union has started to apply and develop the provisions
of the Schengen Acquis.
The
Schengen Acquis
The Schengen Acquis is a set of intergovernmental rules applicable in Schengen states. It
includes:
-
The 1985 agreement that was made between the States of Benelux Economic
Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the French Republic and concerns
the step-by-step elimination of border control on their common borders
-
The Schengen Convention concerning the implementation of the Schengen
Agreement of 1985
-
The
accession protocols of
-
The
council resolution of May 20, 1999 concerning
the definition of the Schengen Acquis for the purpose of determining, in
conformity with the relevant provisions of the Treaty establishing the European
Community and the Treaty on European Union, the legal basis for each of the
provisions or decisions which constitute the Acquis (1999/435/EC).
-
The
council decision of
Some of these provisions were
replaced or amended by later legal instruments of the EC/EU. The complete set of applicable provisions
is called the Schengen Acquis.
The Schengen Acquis sets specific instruments
that compensate for the elimination of control on internal borders and enhance
security of the external borders of the EU. The main instrument is the
requirement for member states to ensure suitable and efficient control of external
borders of the EU. People from Schengen countries can enter the territory of any
Schengen state for a short-term visit without any restrictions. Thus, it is
extremely important to ensure strict control over the external borders of the
EU and protect countries from illegal immigration, drug smuggling, or other
criminal activities.
Common Visa Policy
Countries that have signed the
Schengen Agreement apply a common visa policy. The Schengen group requires only
one visa; this means that a person wishing to travel anywhere in the Schengen
area needs to get only one visa. From the first day Lithuania joins the
Schengen group, institutions of the Republic of Lithuania will start to issue
Schengen visas and have the access to the Schengen Information System (SISone4all),
including the system of Schengen visa inquiries — VISION.
Being a member of the EU,
- the shape
of visa inserts
- the list
of countries to which citizens may travel without visas
- the list
of countries for which citizens are obliged to get visas.
Having become a Schengen state,
Changes in the Visa Regimen for
Citizens of Non-EU Countries
Short-term Visit (Less Than 90 Days)
Citizens of non-EU countries may arrive at and travel
around those states that apply Schengen provisions for three months if they
meet all requirements stated within the Schengen Acquis, i.e.:
-
possess
a valid travel document
-
possess
a visa for short-term visit, if such is required
-
can
state the purpose of their visit
-
can
prove that they have enough money for their stay and return home
-
are not present in the Schengen Information System
as people who are undesirable or dangerous to the public order or national
safety of any Schengen state.
Citizens of non-EU countries who
intend to stay longer than three months
must obtain a long-term (D category) national
visa or a permit to live. Requirements for the receipt of national visas
and permits to live are enumerated in national legal acts.
The Schengen Group Requires Only One Visa
Foreigners wanting to travel around the Schengen group need to have only
one visa.
From the first day
Schengen states apply a common practice
for the issuance of visas, taking into account the interests of each other they
set unified requirements for the documents that are to be attached to the
application and fix the same charge for the examination of a visa application;
therefore, any visa issued in one Schengen state is also valid in other states.
This practice is especially good for those citizens of non-EU countries who
intend to visit several Schengen states. In exceptional cases, when people do
not meet joint visa requirements, a Schengen state may issue a visa that is
valid only in one country. Such exceptions are connected to cases related to
humanitarian, national or international issues.
People That Have
Permits to Live Within the EU Do Not Need Visas
To arrive in a Schengen state for a short
period without a visa, it is enough to have a valid permit to live issued by another Schengen/EU state and any travel document. Permits to live issued by the
Visa Applications Should
Be Addressed to the
Citizens of non-EU countries who intend to
visit a Schengen state must apply to the embassy or consulate of that state for
visas. If a person intends to visit several Schengen states, the application
must be submitted to the embassy or consulate of the member state that is
considered the main destination of the trip. If a person intends to visit
several Schengen states and it is impossible to determine which state the main
destination is, he/she must submit the application to the embassy or consulate
of the member state that will be visited first.
Visas issued before
Charge for the Examination of Visa Application
The
charge for the examination of a Schengen visa application was fixed by the Decision
of the EU Council 2006/440/EC of
Privileges
The Council
Decision 2006/440/EC and other legal acts of the EU set various privileges.
No
charge is applied for:
- Children
under six years of age
- Schoolchildren,
students, postgraduate students, and attending teachers who are travelling for
educational or academic purposes
- Scientists
who are travelling for the purpose of conducting scientific research within the
EU.
In
exceptional cases, the charge may by reduced or a person may be exempt from it
if this helps to promote national culture, foreign policy, national development,
or other spheres of public interest or due to humanitarian reasons.
Reduction
of or exemption from this charge is also possible in order to simplify the present
visa-application procedure between the EU and a particular non-EU country.
The
charge is not applied to family members of EU and EFTA citizens.
Visa Issuance on the Basis of an
Agreement Between the EU and Non-EU Country (
The charge for the citizens of those countries
(