Moldovans to receive Schengen visas at Single EU Visa Issuing Centre in Chisinau

Moldovans will have the possibility of receiving Schengen visas at the Single EU Visa Issuing Centre under the Hungarian embassy in Chisinau starting from 2008, after Hungary joins the Schengen zone on 1 January 2008 Hungarian Ambassador to Moldova Mihaly Bayer has told.

Bayer said that following Hungary s accession to the Schengen zone, the centre will be empowered to issue visas for other states of the zone without the need to submit visa applications to the diplomatic representations of the concerned states.

At the same time, the ambassador said that once the Moldova-EU agreement on the facilitation of the issuance of visas enters into force, the Single EU Visa Issuing Centre will abide by the new rules and will issue visas in a simplified regime to certain categories of people provided for in the document.

The Hungarian diplomat said that currently the centre issues visas for Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Latvia, Denmark and Iceland. The most demanded visas are for Hungary and Austria and the less demanded are those for Denmark.

Bayer specified that in the second half of 2007, the number of countries joining the centre will amount to ten at least, with Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway and the Netherlands having already announced their intent to join in. At the same time, Estonia is to sign the accession document on 20 November during Hungarian premier s visit to this country.

The Single EU Visa Issuing Centre, the first of the kind in Europe, was opened under the Hungarian Embassy in Chisinau on 25 April 2007.

Signed on 14 June 1985, the Schengen Agreement provides for facilitating the crossing of internal borders. Currently, the Schengen zone comprises 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.