baseline study on cross-border mobility in the osce region baseline study on cross-border mobility in the osce region Published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Ul. Miodowa 10, 00-251 Warsaw, Poland http://www.osce.org/odihr © OSCE/ODIHR 2014 All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may be freely used and copied for educational and other non-commercial purposes, provided that any such reproduction is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the OSCE/ODIHR as the source. ISBN 978-92-9234-884-7 The OSCE/ODIHR gratefully acknowledges that the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has permitted the reproduction and use of UNWTO material for use in this Baseline Study. © UNWTO, 9284400614 Designed by Homework Printed by Sungraf table of contents Glossary of terms .................................................................................................................................................................5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................9 OSCE commitments in the field of freedom of movement and human contacts ............................................... 11 Conclusions and findings ..................................................................................................................................................13 Recommendations ..............................................................................................................................................................22 Methodology .........................................................................................................................................................................24 Chapter 1 Overview of cross-border mobility in the OSCE region ...........................................................................................27 1.1 North America ..............................................................................................................................................................28 1.1.1 Canada ..................................................................................................................................................................29 1.1.2 The United States ..............................................................................................................................................31 1.2 Europe and Central Asia ............................................................................................................................................32 1.2.1 Schengen Area ....................................................................................................................................................33 1.2.2 EU member states that do not implement or do not fully implement the Schengen regulatory framework ......................................................................................................................38 1.3 The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) ...............................................................................................45 1.4 Other OSCE participating States ............................................................................................................................51 4 table of contents Chapter 2 Visa regimes and cross-border mobility in the OSCE region ..................................................................................58 2.1 Reciprocal visa-free travel in Area One ................................................................................................................62 2.2 Reciprocal Visa-Free Travel in Area Two ................................................................................................................63 2.3 Visa regime reciprocity ..............................................................................................................................................63 2.4 The effect of visa regimes on travelling patterns in the OSCE region ...........................................................64 Chapter 3 The implementation of visa regimes ........................................................................................................................... 68 3.1 Supporting documentation for visa applications ............................................................................................... 69 3.2 Visa application processing fees .............................................................................................................................. 71 3.3 Visa application procedures and visa statistics ................................................................................................. 77 3.3.1 North America .....................................................................................................................................................78 Chapter 4 Visa dialogues between OSCE participating States ................................................................................................122 4.1 The United States Visa Waiver Program ..............................................................................................................123 4.2 Visa facilitation agreements ..................................................................................................................................125 4.3 Visa-liberalization processes .................................................................................................................................129 4.4 Local border traffic regimes ...................................................................................................................................133 Chapter 5 Best practices and innovative mechanisms in increasing cross-border mobility ...........................................136 5.1 The provision of information to applicants on visa issuance policies and visa application procedures ............................................................................................................................................137 5.2 Electronic visa applications ....................................................................................................................................138 5.3 Supporting documentation for visa applications ..............................................................................................139 5.4 Outsourcing the collection of visa applications to external service providers ....................................... 140 5.5 Facilities at consulates and application centres ............................................................................................... 140 5.6 E-visas ..........................................................................................................................................................................141 5.7 Biometric and machine-readable travel documents ........................................................................................141 5.8 The issuance of multiple-entry long-term visas .............................................................................................. 142 5.9 Transparency of visa dialogue and border co-operation ............................................................................... 144 ANNEX 1 .............................................................................................................................................................................. 145 glossary of terms CIS states The Commonwealth of Independent States (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; associated member – Turkmenistan; unofficial member – Ukraine).1 Common Travel Area A travel zone comprising the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Cross-border mobility Movement of persons across international borders. EU member states European Union member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). EU member states not part Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the United of Schengen Area Kingdom. Intended immigrant For the purpose of this study an “intended immigrant” is a person who plans to immigrate into the territory of a for- eign state contrary to the entry regulations of that state and the terms of the visa issued to such a person. Irregular migration Movement that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit and/or receiving countries. Local border traffic Cross-border traffic of the residents of the border area estab- lished on the basis of bilateral agreement aimed at the sim- plification of border crossing for these residents. 1 Ukraine has participated in the work of the CIS although it has never been made officially a member state. 6 glossary of terms Multiple-entry visa A short-term or long-term visa that allows the holder to enter and exit another country or travel area several times during a pre-defined period, not exceeding an overall dura- tion of stay as defined by regulations on entry and stay. Multiple-entry visa rates The percentage of multiple-entry visas issued as a propor- tion of the total number of visas issued. Non-immigrant visa A visa