EU Council greenlights new rules for suspension of visa-free travel for third countries

On November 17, the European Council gave its final go-ahead for an update of the EU's mechanism to suspend visa-free travel for citizens of third countries who do not require a visa when travelling to the Schengen area, Report informs, referring to the council.

The amended rules will allow the EU to react quicker and more vigorously to situations where visa-free travel is being abused or works against its interests.

"There will be new grounds for triggering the suspension mechanism. When the new amendments enter into force, the EU will be able to revoke a country's visa-free status if this third country lacks alignment with the EU's visa policy. Furthermore, when a country runs an investor citizenship scheme whereby citizenship is granted to people who have no genuine link to the third country concerned, the EU can stop the visa exemption of this country. The same will be the case when the EU's relations with a country deteriorate, for instance, in the event of human rights violations.

The regulation also makes it easier to trigger the suspension mechanism. For instance, a threshold of 30% – instead of the previous threshold of 50% – quantifies substantial increases of cases of refused entry and overstay, asylum applications and serious criminal offences.

The duration of the initial suspension of the visa exemption will increase to 12 months (from 9 months currently). This initial period can be extended by a further 24 months (instead of 18 months now). This longer temporary suspension phase will allow the EU to engage with the third country in question to remedy the circumstances that led to the suspension (before the visa-free regime can be permanently revoked).

The new mechanism also foresees a targeted approach to ending the visa exemption. Whereas currently all citizens of a country are affected by the suspension of the visa-free regime when the initial period is being extended, under the new rules, the additional 24-month suspension phase would not automatically affect the entire population. Instead, the EU could decide to (continue) targeting government officials and diplomats," reads the statement.

The regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day after its publication in the EU's Official Journal. It will be directly binding and applicable in EU member states.

The visa suspension mechanism, in place since 2013, is a safeguard against the abuse of visa-free travel. It allows the EU to temporarily suspend the visa exemption under certain conditions. It has only been applied once (in 2024).