Radio Liberty ~ azatutyun.am
March 26 2010
EU Tightens Visa Rules For Armenians
Armenia — Consuls of EU member states holds a news conference in
Yerevan, 26 March 2010.
26.03.2010
Karine Kalantarian, Tatevik Lazarian
European diplomats in Yerevan presented on Friday details of new,
stricter visa rules for citizens of Armenia and other countries
planning to travel to the European Union.
Under the rules effective from April 5, consular services of EU
countries making up the Schengen zone will not consider visa
applications from those Armenians whose passports were issued more
than ten years ago and/or will expire less than three months after
their planned return home.
Armenian passports are normally valid for ten years. However, a police
authority issuing them can extend their validity by five years with a
special stamp, sparing passport holders the need to apply and wait for
a new travel document.
Frederic Grapin, France’s consul-general in Yerevan, acknowledged that
the Schengen zone countries have decided to stop accepting such
passports because of the Armenian authorities’ failure to introduce
new passports containing biometric data this year.
Speaking at a joint news conference with fellow consular officials
from Germany and several other EU states, Grapin also announced that
Armenians seeking to enter the Schengen zone will have to sign special
statements in which they will pledge not to overstay their visas. He
said that such documents would be used by EU immigration authorities
in possible legal action against visitors refusing to return home.
Another rule announced by the diplomats will obligate the EU
consulates in Armenia to explain, in writing, reasons for turning down
visa applications. `This change will help to improve the transparency
of the process of issuing visas to Armenian travelers and citizens,’
said Grapin.
Armenian nationals seeking Schengen visas already need to submit a
long list of documents, including information on their employment,
monthly income and bank accounts. The French consulate also requires
passports and, if applicable, death certificates of applicants’ family
members along with their translated copies certified by notaries.
These requirements will be toughened further despite Armenia’s
inclusion in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program that offers six
former Soviet republics closer ties with the bloc in return for
political and economic reforms. EU officials have said before that one
of the concrete results of the scheme will be the liberalization of
visa rules for partnership countries.
The strict visa rules are the result of large-scale illegal
immigration to the EU from Armenia and other ex-Soviet republics that
followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of
Armenians are believed to reside illegally in France, Germany and
other European countries.
In an annual report released on Friday, the office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 6,000
Armenian citizens, the vast majority of them living in the EU, asked
for a political asylum last year. Most of them claim to be victims of
politically motivated government repression. Others say they were
harassed by the Armenian authorities because of their non-traditional
religious beliefs and sexual orientation.
EU immigration bodies frequently ask Armenian human rights groups to
assess the credibility of such claims. `I have been working with
Belgium’s immigration service for many years,’ said Mikael Danielian
of the Armenian Helsinki Association. `I also receive similar
inquiries from the United States, Germany and Norway.’
Danielian agreed that most of the asylum requests are unsubstantiated.
`Political figures, sexual minorities and Jehovah’s Witnesses are
indeed harassed, but they don’t leave Armenia,’ he told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service. `Jehovah’s Witnesses are in prison, sexual
minorities are trying to find a way of integrating into the society,
while the opposition, as you know, is fighting.’
Just how so many illegal immigrants managed to receive EU visas in the
first place is another question. There has long been a widespread view
in Armenia that just about anyone can buy a Schengen visa with a
lavish kickback paid to a consular official through local
intermediaries. EU missions there have always denied that.
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