With a legal regulation of the Foreign Ministry that is being debated in Parliament today, the country’s preparations are being completed for receiving tourists from Russia and other countries that do not belong to the Schengen Area.
More specifically, as of this year – for the first time – the issuing of a tourist visa is done via collection of applicants’ biometric data and digital vetting of applications, in order to enhance security. The new Visa Information System (VIS) is being implemented in all Schengen Area countries and is very demanding as regards management of applications.
Already, as of mid-December, on the instructions of Alternate Foreign Minister Xydakis, a Working Group was set up to examine the new state of affairs and recommend (as it did, on 5 January 2016) the actions the Ministry must take to ensure that the competent Consular Authorities are in a position to meet the demands of the new System.
As a result, provision was made for the immediate bolstering of our Consular Authorities with additional work stations (complete units with the necessary hardware/software for taking and crosschecking biometric data). The relevant procurement was incorporated into a programme (ISF Visa) co-funded by the European Union, with the Greek state consequently sharing a part of the cost.
Also provided for was the urgent reinforcement of the Moscow Consulate General with experienced personnel seconded from the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Citizen Protection, while an amendment submitted to Parliament and being debated today, 23 February 2016, enables our country’s Consulates abroad, for the first time, to hire local, seasonal personnel, on short-term contracts of a few months, to staff visa issuing services.
Finally, the consular Authorities in Moscow and Saint Petersburg have been instructed to ask that the country’s local collaborator (provider) increase by 50% the number of centers where Russian citizens can apply for visas, thus even further facilitating those who wish to visit Greece. In the same direction, optimum use is being made of the mobile visa application units the “provider” already has in Russia.
With regard to this, Alternate Foreign Minister Xydakis stated that “Tourism is perhaps our economy’s most dynamic sector. Any increase in revenues from tourism, particularly during the period we are going through, has exceptionally positive repercussions for society and the reduction of unemployment. The Foreign Ministry is doing its job, so that the country does not lose even one potential tourist in 2016. Beyond that, it is in the hands of our tourism industry to work qualitatively and productively – as it knows how to do, that is – so that these tourists leave with excellent impressions and become the country’s best advertisements for the future.
February 23, 2016