Expensive hurdles
July 19, 2011
Meeting visa requirements for travel between the EU and the former Soviet republics is a time-consuming and often annoying procedure. Critics say paperwork is thwarting the economy and inhibiting cross-border investment.
The Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, an organization that has been promoting German business ties with the region for almost 60 years, says strict visa requirements are inflicting hundreds of millions of euros of economic damage every year.
It says the processing of visa applications between Germany and Russia alone costs 160 million euros annually.
No visa, no business
The committee's latest visa study gathered data from 200 companies, mostly located in Russia, Belarus and Central Asia. Every fifth respondent stated that they have had cross-border deals fail due to difficulties obtaining a visa for business travel.
"These visa requirements cause competitive disadvantages," said the committee's chairman, Eckhard Cordes, who is also the chief of German retail giant Metro.
This week, German and Russian government representatives will have a chance to discuss visa issues when they meet in Hanover for their regular bilateral consultations.
Five-page leaflets
According to the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, one of the main problems they need to address is the large number of documents that must be submitted with each application. Cordes added that Russian rules requiring travellers to present an official invitation into the country, for example, prolongs the process unnecessarily.
Much of the inconvenience is mutual, however. The German authorities' leaflet telling Russian and Ukrainian people which documents to bring to the consulate is a whopping five pages long. Rules that require those documents to be submitted personally mean that many applicants have to travel a thousand kilometres or more to organize their visas.
Moscow says it has been looking to abolish its visa requirements for two years now. However, unlike Ukraine, Russia is not willing to open its borders to Western European travellers unilaterally.
Tit for tat
Russian frustration with Germany's strict visa regulations saw Moscow tighten rules for German travellers, specifically, just nine months ago. Since then, both the German and Russian consulates require visa applicants from the other country to submit proof of income to assess their willingness to return to their home countries once travel is complete.
According to the study, 67 percent of the businesses surveyed think this practice is absurd, while 34 percent consider it discrimination against their Eastern European employees.
Cordes says the German economy would benefit the most from visa liberalization for Eastern Europeans: "Germany must therefore put more effort into supporting visa reforms within the EU."
It's complicated
The committee says it is aware of the fact that German politicians consider the visa question difficult due to security concerns and fears of illegal immigration and moonlighting.
Its counter-argument is that visa freedom does not mean there cannot be any border- and passport controls. After all, the committee says, Russia is not an EU member country.
Cordes points to western Balkan states, where people can take short trips to Western Europe without a visa, as a good example of sensible policy.
Sporting chance
The Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations has set itself an ambitious goal that might sound like a dream to some Eastern- or Western European ears: It wants visa requirements to be lifted before the beginning of the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia.
Cordes said demands for immediate visa freedom would simply not be fruitful.
"We are not that naive. Still, in the age of biometric passports, visas should be a thing of the past," he said.
He suggested that Russia could trial visa-free travel first at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Author: Oxana Evdokimova / aw
Editor: Sam Edmonds