Four years of visa – free travel to EU for citizens of Moldova

Chisinau, 28 April /MOLDPRES/ – On 28 April 2018, four years have passed since the liberaliatison of visa regime with EU. The visa – free travel is currently 2,144,321 citizens holding biometric passports, including 148,258 citizens from the Transnistrian region, the MAEIE’s public diplomacy, strategic communication and media interaction service has reported.

The visa – free regime, with freedom of movement, offered new opportunities for contacts of businessmen, short – term training courses, as well as for visiting relatives and friends and Diaspora, which was a real strengthening of human contacts.

The Republic of Moldova was the first country of the Eastern Partnership to have obtained visa – free regime with EU. During these four years, the Moldovan authorities shared with interested countries within the Eastern Partnership the experience and good practices that contributed to this goal.

The application of visa – free regime with EU has been characterized by a steady increase in number of citizens which have benefited from this facility. Thus, by end of first year of implementation, 241,415 Moldovan citizens, holders of biometric passports, traveled to Schengen area; by end of second year their number was 577,058; at end of third year they reached 982,764, and for April 2018 the total figure reaches 1,469,917.

Also, according to the European Agency for Border Police and Coast Guard (Frontex), refusals to enter Moldovan citizens were only 0.3 per cent, while illegal cases accounted for only 0.5 per cent of total in EU, over recent 2 years there has been a slight upward trend. Thus, Moldovan citizens have had and continue to have a responsible attitude towards freedom of movement within European area.