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Migration and Its Regulation Through the Visa Policies of the European Union Countries
JUDr. Miloslav Smetana, Police Academy of the Czech Republic, Faculty of Security and Law, Department of Police Activities
Abstract
This article is a legal analysis and evaluation of the results achieved by the European Union in the process of regulating migratory movements into the European area through the common visa policy of its Member States. In order to illustrate the perspective of the position of visa policy as one of the possible regulatory means for migration management, surveys were conducted using the scientific method of questioning, the output of which was an assessment of the views of the professional and non-professional public on this form of possible regulation of migration. The aim of the present text is to present the results of the legal analysis and research, including an assessment of the gradually adopted adjustments to visa practice, their benefits, and future prospects.
The Member States’ visa policy in relation to migration has its priority in that it is used to manage migratory movements while people are still outside the European area and is a typical example of managed migration as its desirable form. The ways of deepening the common visa policy are being further improved, both to ensure public order and security in the European Union Member States and for the benefit of more favourable administrative conditions for applicants who apply for short-stay visas.
Keywords: illegal migration, legal migration, visa, travel document, third-country nationals, visa facilitation, visa reciprocity, visa policy, return policy, visa code, visa regulation.