Expect stricter requirements when applying for a Schengen visa: report

Source: Bus Tech, 19/03/2018

South Africans travelling to certain European Union (EU) countries
may now face stricter requirements when applying for a Schengen visa.
This is according to immigration lawyer Gary Eisenberg who was
speaking to Cape Talk’s Kieno Kammies after a number of listeners
complained of extra requirements when applying for a Schengen visa to
visit Spain.
Some of ways that these requirements have been tightened include an
increased turn-a-round time, while certain documents need
authorisation by the Spanish police, Eisenberg said.
The immigration expert said that additional requirements have been
introduced after BLS International Services replaced VFS Visa &
Permit Facilitation Centre as a new visa facilitation company for the
country.
He said that BLS has its own proprietary standards when it came to
applications, meaning that Spain had tightened its requirements when
it comes to offering South Africans a Schengen visa.
When asked how other countries within the Schengen block were
affected, Eisenberg said that there were no specific changes but
rather an overall tightening of documentation from ‘high-risk’
countries such as South Africa.
“I think countries are becoming far more careful on documentation
emanating from countries like South Africa which are seen as high
risk for fraudulent documentation, and this is why Britain has
imposed visa restrictions on South Africa, ” he said.
“We see on a daily basis foreigners living in South Africa with
fraudulent visas and fraudulent identity documents, and this seems to
be common place.
“So governments I think, are united in their drive to screen
documents more carefully,” he said.
The 26 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,
Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, and Switzerland.
Visa requirements
While the Department of Home Affairs confirmed to BusinessTech at the
end of January 2018 that visa-free travel to the EU was still being
discussed for South Africa, the majority of European Union countries
will not allow South Africans to enter without a Schengen or similar
visa.
According to Arton Capital’s latest Passport Index, South Africans
can currently apply for visa-free travel to 95 countries.
However, only Ireland forms part of mainland Europe, while several
other countries such as Russia, Kosovo, Georgia and Armenia are given
status as being part of “Eurasia”.
You can find the complete of list of countries for which South
Africans do not require a visa, or only require a visa on entry below:

Visa-free entry
Angola
Georgia
Malaysia
Singapore
Antigua
Barbuda
Grenada
Mauritius
South Korea
Argentina
Guatemala
Micronesia
St Vincent
Grenadines
Bahamas
Guyana
Mozambique
Swaziland
Barbados
Haiti
Namibia
Tanzania
Belize
Honduras
Nicaragua
Thailand
Benin
Hong Kong
Palestinian territories
Trinidad
Tobago
Botswana
Indonesia
Panama
Tunisia
Brazil
Ireland
Paraguay
Uruguay
Chile
Israel
Peru
Vanuatu
Costa Rica
Jamaica
Philippines
Venezuela
Dominica
Kenya
Qatar
Zambia
Dominican Republic
Kosovo
Russian Federation
Zimbabwe
Ecuador
Lesotho
Saint Kitts
Nevis
El Salvador
Macao
Saint Lucia
Fiji
Malawi
Senegal

Visa on arrival
Armenia
Ghana
Marshall Islands
Tajikistan
Bolivia Guinea-Bissau
Mauritania
Timor-Leste
Cambodia
Iran
Nepal
Togo
Cape Verde
Jordan
Oman
Turkey
Comoros
Kyrgyzstan
Palau
Tuvalu
Djibouti
Laos
Rwanda
Uganda
Ethiopia
Madagascar
Samoa
Gabon
Maldives
Seychelles (visitor’s permit)

Electronic Travel Authority (eTA) entry
Ivory Coast
India
Sri Lanka