ArmInfo. The issue of launching a dialogue on the liberalization of the visa regime with the EU was on the agenda of the meetings of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels, The Spokesperson of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan stated at a briefing on July 16.
"We do not hide the fact that we expect the provision of an appropriate mandate from the European Commission to start a dialogue on liberalization of the visa regime, which does not mean that tomorrow or the day after or next month or year we will have this liberalized regime, but, nevertheless, we need to start a dialogue in order to understand what we are going to talk about, we clearly know and understand the conditions, there are several criteria that we have already met for a long time and the sooner we start the dialogue, the sooner we will be able to finish and start developing the corresponding agreement'', concluded Balayan.
To note, a simplified visa regime has been in effect between Armenia and the EU since January 2014, which involves shortening the time limit for processing requests for visas to 10 days and reducing its cost to 30 euros. A simplified procedure for obtaining visas for entry to the countries of the Schengen area has been provided for members of official delegations, journalists, businessmen, scientists, athletes, schoolchildren and students, close relatives of EU citizens, as well as for people who are sent to the European Union for treatment. Participants in various international conferences, exchange programs and other public events of international character will also be able to obtain visas under a simplified regime. In general, the list of various categories of the population who will have the opportunity to visit the EU under a simplified scheme is quite extensive.
The process of providing multivisas has also been simplified, which was previously unnecessarily complex and lengthy. Citizens of Armenia with diplomatic passports are completely exempted from the need to obtain a visa. The simplification of the visa issuance scheme also affected the terms of stay of Armenian citizens in the territory of the EU countries. Now this period is ninety days in each period of one hundred and eighty days. Along with the signing of the agreement on a simplified visa regime, Armenia also signed an agreement on readmission. After that, the Armenian authorities repeatedly stressed the need to start a dialogue around the second stage of the liberalization process, but it is constantly postponed for one reason or another.