For a fair and inclusive European visa strategy

According to the recent EU communication, the Union of Skills, and the mission letter to Commissioner Magnus Brunner, the EU is currently working on a Visa strategy to be presented later this year. The strategy will include “measures to support the arrival of top students, researchers and trained workers from third countries”, and will be developed together with relevant non-EU countries. It further connects to the “Choose Europe” approach of the EU which in line with the strengthened competitiveness and security agenda of the EU aims to attract non-EU students and researchers from abroad.

ESU welcomes the effort to reduce barriers for incoming students and researchers, but is concerned about the one-sided focus on solely attracting “talented” (i.e. top) students and workers, with a special focus on academic disciplines considered as particularly useful for the advancement in strategic sectors. Access to education in Europe should remain available to everyone in line with the principle of equity, independent of their academic and social background.

Academia is inherently international, and student mobility enriches the education of the respective student, their HEIs, and societies at large. However, bureaucracy and inconsistency in the provision of student visas, residency and working permits constitute barriers for short, long-term and degree mobility and for the integration and employment opportunities of international students.

The application process

The visa application process is often bureaucratic, time-consuming and costly, and it should be made more effective, inclusive, affordable and accessible. Costs for applying for admission, student visas and residency permits quickly add up, including costs for document preparation, translation costs, financial statements obligations, proof of financial means for the entire period of stay, and travelling to embassies. In order to keep mobility accessible to all students, ESU calls for fees on student visas and permits to be abolished.

Additionally, digital services should be available for uploading and submitting all necessary documents and tracking the visa application status. ESU is also in favor of clear, regulated timeframes for the whole application process, including how early they have to apply, how quickly they get an appointment, and how quickly visa applicants must receive a reply on their applications. Further, a common European-level focal point (“one-stop-shop”) for visas for students and researchers could increase accessibility and clarity.

One of the largest obstacles for applying for visas is the need to access embassies or consulates, as they might be far away or even located in other countries. ESU encourages closer cooperation between the embassies of Schengen countries, with the aim of allowing people to apply for visas closer to where they live. Long term, the aim should be to use all Schengen embassies as visa contact points for any Schengen country rather than the current procedure requiring acquisition at the embassy of the country where the longest stay is expected.

Residency permits

In addition to a visa, students also have to apply for a residency permit upon arrival in the country. Obtaining and renewing residency permits is a bureaucratic, time-consuming, emotionally draining and costly process. Residency permits should therefore be issued for the full duration of the academic programme in which the student is enrolled, with the possibility to extend the residency permit if they need more time or want to enrol in a new study programme. Additionally, there should be an appropriate grace period after graduation to allow students to transition into the European employment sector.

Students at Risk

Special attention should be given to at-risk students and students in refugee-like situations. Students are often at the democratic frontline, protesting and fighting for just and democratic societies. Authoritarian regimes therefore regularly target student activists. These student activists risk threats and persecution, and are often met with arrests, surveillance, or expulsion from their higher education institutions.

Students at risk (StAR) programs have been established in several European countries in order to allow these activists to complete their education in a safe manner. The Visa Strategy should explicitly account for these programs, and ensure that participants in StAR-programmes in difficult situations are not hindered by visa issues. In addition, the visa strategy should hold provisions for students in refugee-like situations and account for students that are unable to access required documents due to the withholding and burdening of such acquisition processes by their country of origin.

ESU calls for:

• The EU Visa Strategy to focus on how to make mobility accessible to all, not just “talented” students and workers.
• Extend the duration of Student visas to match at least the duration of the program in which the student is enrolled, plus some time before and after the program duration.
• Fees on student visas and residency permits to be abolished.
• The visa application process to be comprehensively digitalised, including clear timeframes for application decisions.
• All Schengen member state embassies to be used as visa contact points for a visa to any Schengen country.
• Avoiding a visa-regime that is parallel to schengen, but rather to ensure that there is one common visa-regime in line with the already established one.
• The Visa Strategy should explicitly mention Students at Risk-programmes, and secure visas for participants.