Switzerland joins Common Visa Application Center

The Moldovan citizens will be able to obtain visas for Switzerland at the EU Common Visa Application Center in Chisinau from May 24. Switzerland is the 13th country that joined the Center, Hungarian Ambassador to Moldova Gyorgy Varga told a news conference on May 20, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Ambassador said that since January, when the Netherlands and Greece joined the Center, the number of applications for visas rose by 80% compared with a year earlier. Discussions are now held with several other countries that want to join. Gyorgy Varga did not want to name them for political reasons. According to the Ambassador, 4,145 applications had been filed from January 4 until May 15. Most of the applicants asked for visas for Hungary, Greece and Austria. The lowest number of applications were lodged for visas for Luxemburg and Denmark. Over 8,000 applications for visas were filed in 2009. 13% of the applications were rejected for different reasons. 53% of the visas last year were issued free of charge. This figure for January-May this year is 49.4%. The free visas are issued to pensioners, journalists, persons who form part of delegations, etc. The EU Common Visa Application Center was inaugurated at the Hungarian Embassy in Chisinau. on April 25, 2007. At the beginning, it issued visas for Austria, Hungary, Latvia, and Slovenia. Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, Belgium, Luxemburg, Finland, the Netherlands, and Greece joined the Center afterward.