Visa-free pass for Moldovan citizens

According to the latest decision of the plenary session of European Parliament, Moldovan citizens will soon be able to travel to the EU’s border-free Schengen area without a visa, under a draft law approved by Parliament on Thursday and already informally agreed with the Council. Moldova is the first Eastern Partnership country to meet all the requirements for visa-free travel laid down in the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan, says the official documents.

The 2001 visa regulation lists non-EU countries whose nationals need a visa to travel to the Schengen area (the “negative list”) and those whose nationals do not need a visa for this purpose (the “positive list”). This update transfers Moldova from the negative to the positive list. Moldovans who have biometric passports (with a chip storing the holder’s facial image and fingerprints) would be able to travel to the Schengen area for 90 days within a 180-day period. Currently, only 15 percent of the Moldovan citizens have this kind of passport.

The next steps are made by the Council, who is expected to formally endorse the amended regulation by April at the latest, subject to legal and verification of the texts in all languages.

Moldova lifted the visa requirement for EU citizens on 1 January 2007, while they already benefit from a visa-facilitation agreement with the EU in force since January 2008 (an upgraded agreement took effect in July 2013). According to the Commission, the number of short-stay Schengen visa applications from Moldovan citizens has remained stable over the past three years (oscillating between 50 000 and 55 000). Also, many of them already hold a Romanian passport.

Oana Vasiliu