European Visa Centre to start receiving applications tomorrow

The European Common Visa Application Centre will start tomorrow, April 12, to receive applications in a trial run, Info-Prim Neo learned from sources within the Consulate of Hungary in Chisinau. The official opening of the Centre is scheduled for April 25. Initially, the Centre will operate in the premises of the Embassy of Hungary, issuing visas for Hungary, Austria and Slovenia. Recently, the Hungarian authorities informed the Moldovan MFA that Denmark and Latvia voiced their willingness to join the three countries. Other EU member states are also examining the possibility of participating in the Centre’s activity, including Finland, Estonia and Belgium. Vice president of the European Commission, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, Franco Frattini, and Foreign Ministers of Hungary and Austria, will participate in the event. According to the head of the Hungarian diplomatic Mission to Moldova, Mihaly Bayer, the Embassy of Hungary in Chisinau, along with its partners, will launch an official webpage in this respect (www.cac.md). To facilitate the visa issuing procedure, a voicemail will operate round a clock within the centre. For the time being, all the information can be obtained on telephone number 22-86-68. The Centre, the first of this kind in the EU’s history, will issue at least 12,000 visas a year.