Moldova has celebrated its eighth anniversary of visa-free travel to the European Union on Thursday, April 28.
The European External Action Service (EEAS), which serves as a diplomatic service and a combined foreign and defence ministry of the EU, has revealed that in the last eight years, more than 2.4 million citizens of Moldova travellers nine million times to the EU, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“Over 2.4 million citizens of the Republic of Moldova travelled 9 million times to the European Union in the eight years since the visa liberalisation,” the statement of EEAS reads.
The visa-free travel agreement that was reached between the Moldovan and the EU authorities offered the citizens of Moldova the opportunity to travel easier and simpler as well as to get closer to the EU and the values shared by the Member States.
Commenting on the event, the EU Ambassador in Moldova, Jānis Mažeiks, said during an interview that visa-free travel has been giving the opportunity to citizens of Moldova to visit their family, relatives and study or visit new places without having to undergo visa obtaining procedures.
“Once you start travelling to Europe, once you see how things are done there, how things are organised, that’s, I think, how people get closer to the European family. And of course, it’s also about meeting the Europeans and sometimes establishing families, because that’s also how people can get closer to each other,” the statement of Mažeiks reads.
Moldova is not a European Union Member State, but its citizens can enter any member country of the Schengen Area without being required to obtain a Schengen visa first.
Nonetheless, a special requirement applies to nationals of Moldova. Only holders of biometric passports can travel under the visa-free regime.
Except for Moldova, citizens of several other countries can also travel to the EU without having to obtain a Schengen visa.
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Previously, the EU Commission announced that they plan on digitalising the procedures for applying for a Schengen visa. Such a move has been warmly welcomed by travellers from countries under the Schengen visa regime.
The Commission proposes that all EU countries digitalise the Schengen visa process, introduce the possibility of submitting visa applications online, and replace the visa sticker.
Such a proposal has been made as, according to the Commission, unifying and harmonising visa procedures within the Schengen Area will help to avoid ‘visa shopping’.
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