On the 10^th of March 2016, civic organization «Europe without Barriers» held discussion of the results of public monitoring of visa practices of 18 EU consulates in Ukraine and presented public ranking of the most and least effective countries in implementing the Visa Facilitation Agreement between the European Community and Ukraine, as wells as the EU Visa Code. Consular practices of Schengen countries were characterized as “friendly”, “neutral” or “contradictory”. This was based on the survey of Ukrainian citizens on the following criteria: the fastest and slowest consideration of visa applications, issuing most / least amount of long-term and multiple-entry visas, fastest and slowest collection of biometric data, requirements of additional documents. According to the survey:

1. “Friendly” consular practice: Estonia, Lithuania and Hungary
2. “Neutral” consular practice: Austria, Belgium, Latvia, Slovakia and Sweden
3. “Controversial” consular practice: Poland, Germany, Finland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, France, Italy, Czech Republic

The results of public monitoring of issuing visas to Schengen countries, conducted in autumn 2015, shows contradictory trends. “Although multiple and long-term Schengen visas have become easier to get, the progress is mainly due to some “friendly” countries to consular institutions, such as Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania,” said Iryna Sushko, Executive Director of Europe without Barriers .

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