On January 29, the European Commission presented a new five-year migration strategy. It will define the EU’s further work in the field of asylum and migration, setting specific priorities, including maintaining a reduction in irregular arrivals while encouraging legal pathways to enter the EU.
In the strategy, EU visa policy is viewed as an instrument of migration diplomacy and security, including mechanisms for suspending or restricting the issuance of visas to citizens of third countries. The document explicitly names Belarus and Russia as states that have generated new forms of hybrid threats to the EU, in which migration is used for political purposes. In this context, the continued issuance of visas, including tourist visas, to citizens of countries regarded as sources of security threats to the EU may be deemed inadvisable.
Overall, the visa strategy focuses on three key areas:
1. Stronger security: The EU will modernise how visa-free travel is granted and monitored, strengthen monitoring of existing visa-free regimes, introduce possible targeted restrictive visa measures when needed, and strengthen travel document security.
2. Boosting prosperity and competitiveness: New measures will make the EU more attractive to skilled workers, and make legitimate travel easier, and more predictable. This includes new digital procedures for both visa-free and visa required travellers and multiple-entry visas with a longer validity for trusted travellers.
3. Modern visa tools: The EU will make its visa and border IT systems interoperable by 2028. This will allow authorities to check multiple databases at once and through a single, central search, improving information-sharing and preventing visa abuse.
