EU signs simplified travel visa agreement with Western Balkan nations, including Albania

BRUSSELS, Sep. 18 – The European Union signed visa agreements with five Western Balkan nations on Tuesday, including Albania, making it easier and cheaper for citizens from those countries to travel to some parts of the 27-nation union.
Agreements were signed with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia on simplifying travel documents.
The four countries also signed new “readmission agreements” that will oblige them to take back citizens who are in the EU illegally, an agreement which Albania had been the first to sign last year.
Since the readmission agreement with Albania is in force, only visa facilitation agreements were signed.
EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Franco Frattini said, “The signature of the agreements is an important political decision towards closer cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkan countries in the sensitive areas of migration and movement of persons. The smooth implementation of these agreements, together with tangible progress in basic JLS areas, will enable the Commission to start a structured dialogue on a possible visa free regime for the citizens of Western Balkan countries in the future”.
Commissioner for enlargement Olli Rehn added: “I warmly welcome the signature of these important agreements. They are very important for the people of the Western Balkans and help to improve people-to-people contacts between the citizens of the EU and the region. They are a further proof of the EU’s commitment to the region’s European perspective. Now we expect proper implementation of both agreements, so as to pave the way for a dialogue on visa-free travel and its conditions with each of the countries of the region”. Overall, the agreements aim at making it easier for citizens of Western Balkan countries, in particular those who travel most, to acquire short stay visas for the EU1, while simultaneously putting in place clear rules for combating illegal immigration. The Visa Facilitation agreements make it possible to maintain the visa handling fee of 35 Euro instead of 60 Euro for all Western Balkan citizens and provide a total exemption from the visa fee for certain categories of applicants. Furthermore, for certain categories of persons, such as businessmen, students and journalists, the necessary support documents for a visa application have been simplified. For certain categories of frequent travelers it is possible
to issue multi-entry visas with long periods of validity. Finally, holders of diplomatic passports are exempted from the visa obligation.
The effective implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements will ensure a better management of migration pressures and will make it possible to envisage a structured dialogue along the path set out by the Thessaloniki agenda towards a visa free travel regime for the citizens of Western Balkan countries, according to a statement.
The visa and readmission agreements will apply to 15 EU states in the so-called Schengen borderless travel area. That number is expected to grow by nine additional countries at the end of the year. But Britain, Ireland and Cyprus will remain outside the EU borderless travel area.
The visa facilitation does not apply to UK and Ireland, which do not participate in the Schengen cooperation. It is applicable towards the rest of the EU, Norway and Iceland.