Common Visa Application Centre expands with six Schengen zone countries

The people that want to obtain Schengen visas for Austria, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia can file applications to the EU Common Visa Application Centre located inside the Hungarian Embassy in Chisinau. Estonia will also offer visas through the Centre as from December 21, the day when Hungary joined the Schengen zone, Info-Prim Neo reports. At a news conference held to mark the joining of the Schengen zone and the signing of a new representation contract with other EU member states, the Hungarian Ambassador in Chisinau Mihaly Bayer said that from December 21, the applicants can lodge documents for obtaining airport visas A, transit visas B and entry visas C for a period of up to 90 days for the six states, while the applications will be processed in accordance with the general Schengen practices. The list will soon extend as talks are being carried out with a number of European states. According to Mihaly Bayer, the joining of the Schengen zone by Hungary will have a beneficial effect on Moldova as the Moldovan people will be able to get visas at the Centre for 35 euros. The visas will be issued within a period of two-three weeks. At the same time, the applications rejected by a Schengen zone country will be also rejected by the Common Visa Application Centre. In such a case, the 35 euro tax is not paid back, while the applicants must appeal to the consulate of the main destination country and lodge a new application. The applicants must know that the border guards might not accept the Schengen visa issued by a member state for foreign citizens that head for another state if they are not able to justify why the visa was not issued by the consulate of the given state. Speaking about the future plans, Mihaly Bayer said that the Embassy intends to increase the number of offices and of employees dealing with applications so as the visas are issued in a civilized way and without queues. In such a way, the Centre’s capacities will grow proportionally with the requirements for obtaining visas. “We have invested the money of Hungarian taxpayers in this Center and therefore we must make sure that the Center works efficiently. We want it to extend and to represent more countries,” the Ambassador said. The Schengen visas issued by the Center allow travel across all the participating countries, but the largest part of the time must be spent in the destination country. From December 21, 2007 the Schengen zone embraces Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Hungary as well as two non-EU counties, Norway and Iceland. The EU member state Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, the UK and Romania are not involved in the zone.