New Visa laws for Schengan Europe

[MarkJ]

The new EU Schengan Touring Visa



In mid 2015 the EU is looking at approving new Visa laws.
Its time now to look at the proposed provisions carefully and if you have an interest make representations to ensure the laws are passed.

If the law is passed it will not come into effect for 6 further months. It may mean your EU trips timing is important.


The new EU Schengan Touring Visa will be very good IF its approved. But we will still be in a mess... because you can't do a Atlantic to Med curciut (ie there and back) with only 1 year in the EU.
Say you leave north America, or the Caribbean in June to the Med, do it for a year, you still cant leave the Canary Islands till the November of the next year.

You still need to spend 5 months in non-Shengan areas, many of which are Muslim and may not be everyones cop of tea in this current geo-political situation.

But wait! There may be some good news in the detail so read on!

- To establish a Touring Visa. This new type of Visa will allow legitimate non-EU nationals entering the Schengen area to circulate for up to 1 year in this zone (without staying in one Member State for more than 90 days in any 180-day period), with the possibility of an extension for up to two years (provided that the applicant does not stay for more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the same Member State). This would for instance, apply to live-performing artists who tour the Schengen area for a prolonged period, but also to individual travellers, such as tourists, researchers and students who wish to spend more time in Europe.

Ok now read this one carefully

– establishing a new type of visa (‘touring visa’) for an intended stay in two or more Member States lasting more than 90 days but no more than 1 year (with the possibility of extension up to 2 years), provided that the applicant does not intend to stay for more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the same Member State

An extension Up to 2 years!!!

he IA considered two regulatory options.
One of the options, a new type of authorisation with a view to an intended stay in the Schengen area lasting more than 90 days but no more than 360 days was envisaged ‘only’ for a limited group of third-country nationals: artists (or sportsmen), culture professionals and their crew members employed by reliable and acknowledged live performing companies or organisations and core family members travelling with them. Limiting the beneficiaries to this group was based on the fact that they seem to be the main group of third-country nationals affected by the current legislative gap.
Another policy option envisaged a similar authorisation not just for that specific category of third-country nationals, but for all third-country nationals (i.e. ‘individual’ travellers, e.g. tourists, researchers, students, business people). Since the problem is due to a legislative gap between the Schengen acquis on short stays in the Schengen area and the legislation on admission of third-country nationals for stays longer than 90 days on the territory of a Member State, a non-regulatory policy option was not developed.
The IA showed14 that the lack of an authorisation allowing travellers to stay more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen area results in a considerable economic loss to the EU. According to the study supporting the IA, the number of potential beneficiaries of the new authorisation is rather limited. Implementation of the first option might concern approximately 60000 applicants, while the second option might double the number of potential applicants. These are rather small numbers, bearing in mind that there were more than 15 million ‘Schengen’ visa applications in 2012 and the number of applications is rising steadily.
However, these travellers are considered to be ‘big spenders’ and therefore likely to generate considerable revenue and to boost economic activity in the EU, not least because they stay longer in the Schengen area. The first option could lead to an estimated EUR 500 million in additional income to the Schengen area per year. The economic impact of the other option is estimated at around EUR 1 billion. In both options, the economic gain would be due to the spending of ‘new’ travellers attracted by a new opportunity to stay longer in the Schengen area without using cumbersome ‘alternatives’ on the borderlines of legality, such as obtaining LTV visas

proof that they have sickness insurance for all risks normally covered for nationals of the Member States to be visited.

6. The possession of sufficient means of subsistence and a stable economic situation shall be demonstrated by means of salary slips or bank statements covering a period of 12 months prior to the date of the application, and/or supporting documents that demonstrate that applicants will benefit from or will acquire sufficient financial means lawfully during their stay.

The touring visa shall allow for multiple entries to the territory of all Member States, without prejudice to paragraph 5.
3. The length of authorised stay shall be decided on the basis of a thorough examination of the application. The length of authorised stay shall not exceed one year, but it can be extended for up to a further year in accordance with Article 8.

When applying for an extension, applicants shall prove that they continue to fulfil the entry and visa issuing conditions and to comply with the requirement not to stay for more than 90 days in any 180-day period in the territory of a single Member State.
9. During the examination of an application for an extension, the competent authority may in justified cases call applicants for an interview and request additional documents.
10. An extension shall not exceed one year, and the overall length of an authorised stay, that is, the length of the initially authorised stay and its extension, shall not exceed two years.

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs...ng_visa_en.pdf


Mark