Training on EU/Schengen visa regulations

On February 25, 2016 the training on EU/Schengen visa regulations was held at Tbilisi Rooms Hotel led by Mr. Karl August Lux, the senior expert for visa matters from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The training was attended by the representatives of the Public Service Development Agency, Public Service Hall, Community Centers of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, NATO-EU Information Center, and non-governmental organizations being active in the field of migration. The topics such as the legal framework of the single EU (Schengen) visa policy and existing practices, general procedures for processing visa applications and the Visa Information System were discussed. A particular emphasis was made on discussing the rules of visa-free regime with EU and instruments to plan and calculate the number of days for legal stay in the Schengen area (so-called Schengen calculator).

The training represented a so-called Training of Trainers aimed at providing the attendees with the necessary information on visa-free travel with EU who will later pass on the above-said detailed information to the relevant staff of their own organizations and different target groups of population. The training served as one of the integral components of the single information campaign waged by the Government of Georgia on visa-free travel with EU.

The training was organized by the ICMPD in cooperation with SCMI Secretariat as part of the EU-funded “Enhancing Georgia’s Migration Management” (ENIGMMA) project.