02-09-2011
The EU official data: Ukraine has moved closer to a safe level by the number of visa refusals
Ukrainians have been receiving more visas in 2010 than even before, while reducing the level of visa refusals. However, the progress of the country is quite modest in comparison with Russia, China and Turkey. Among the Eastern Partnership countries the best case of "friendly" visa policy with the EU is Belarus while the worst case is definitely Georgia.
In general, the EU and Schengen countries (except Britain and Ireland) had issued 13,436,820 visas of all categories for their applicants all over the world. There are 12,564,795 Scengen visas providing the right to travel over the entire Schengen zone.
The EU issued 1,227,001 visas in Ukraine among all categories of visas. It is about 9.13% of their total number in the world. We recall that in 2009 the EU and Schengen states had issued 9.3% of the total number of visas in Ukraine. So, Ukrainian share is slightly shortened on the EU visa map, but the absolute number of visas has risen on about 100,000 visas (11% of visas issued).
Ukraine continues to hold steadily the second position in the world by the number of the EU visas. About 30% of the visas issued in Ukraine are the multiple entry visas, but the official statistics doesn’t reveal the term of validity of such visas.
Thus, the leader (the Russian Federation) managed to strengthen its leadership by increasing the number of its citizens who received visas in 2010. The number of visas received has increased by one million – to the four and a half million of visas (4,525,985 visas) and it is about 33.7% (instead of 29% in 2009) of all visas issued by the EU all over the world. There is also the low refusal rate – 1.24%.
China is on the third place with 867,544 visas issued (or 6.46%), which is also a significant improvement in comparison to 2009 (4.5% of visas received), with the refusal rate of 4.8%
The number of visas, issued by the EU Consulates in Turkey has increased by about 25%, to 676,000 visas. But there is relatively high refusal rate - 6.23%.
Thus, the number of visas, issued by the EU Consulates to Ukrainian citizens, increases but slower in comparison to other countries with “neighbouring” ranking positions like Russia, China and Turkey.
The average refusal rate among the EU consulates in Ukraine is 3.43%, according to the official data. It is 1% less than in 2009, and it almost reaches a safe level of 3% that is considered as security threshold. Reaching an indicative refusal level of 3% is one of the important criteria that determines the decision to abolish visas. But there are significant differences between the consulates. Their refusal rates vary from less than 1% to 11%.
The EU visa policy in Moldova and Georgia is rather stable. But the high rate of visa refusals draws our attention to Georgia. It is 14.65% of visa all applications.
Finally, the experts’ expected sensation is Belarus. It is in the first place in the world by the number of the EU visas per capita in 2010. That country has received 595 000 visas (the number of citizens is about 9.5 million). And it is a half less visas than Ukraine received with a population 5 times over. The refusal rate is a record low (0.96%), and the proportion of multiple-entry visas is equal to Ukrainian case. It is about 30%.
Thus, the official EU statistics shows almost no advantages for Ukraine (as well as Moldova and Georgia), which supposedly could be as a result of the VFA implementation (there is no such agreement with Belarus).
The best case among the EaP countries is Belarus and the worst is Georgia, according to the analysis of the EU official statistics. This fact indicates the significant differences of political and visa dimension of the EU policy towards Eastern European states.
Complete statistical data on the visa issuance by the EU and Schengen member states you can find here:
http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/borders/borders_visa_en.htm
EWB will publish its own detailed analysis of the official data on the EU visa statistics in 2010 soon.
