Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 (EU Visa Regulation)

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Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001

Title: Council Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 establishing the list of third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders and the list of third countries whose nationals are exempt from this visa requirement
Designation:
(not official)
EU visa regulation
Scope: EEA excluding Great Britain and Ireland ; also valid in Switzerland
Legal matter: Immigration law
Basis: EGV , in particular Article 62 No. 2 lit. b no. i ,
Procedure overview: European Commission
European Parliament
IPEX Wiki
To be used from: April 10, 2001
Replaced by: Regulation (EU) 2018/1806
Expiry: 17th December 2018
Reference: OJ L 81 of 21.3.2001, pp. 1-7
Full text Consolidated version (not official)
basic version
Regulation has expired.
Please note the information on the current version of legal acts of the European Union !

The EU visa regulation (sometimes also referred to as the EU visa regulation , officially: Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 of the Council of March 15, 2001 establishing the list of third countries whose nationals are in possession of one when crossing the external borders Visa, as well as the list of third countries whose citizens are exempt from this visa requirement ) was a legal provision of the European Union that regulated which third-country nationals needed a visa in their national passport to enter the Schengen area for short stays and which could enter without a visa . The regulation was replaced by Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 (EU Visa Regulation) with effect from December 18, 2018 .

Material scope

User states of the Schengen implementation agreement.

The regulation was directly applicable in the so-called Schengen states and did not need to be implemented separately in national legal provisions. The Schengen states basically include all member states of the European Union including Bulgaria , Croatia and Romania , even if these three states are not yet fully users. In the case of Cyprus , which is basically the full user, but continues to carry out border controls due to the unresolved Cyprus conflict and the unclear situation in Northern Cyprus , the regulation also applied without restrictions.

Great Britain and Ireland were excluded from the scope within the European Union . The national entry regulations of these countries continued to apply to entries into Great Britain and Ireland.

The regulation also applied in the other states of the European Economic Area (EEA), including Iceland , Norway and Liechtenstein . The regulation also applied in Switzerland , which has signed a bilateral agreement with the European Union . These states had undertaken to incorporate the Schengen acquis into their national law.

Personal scope

Third country nationals

The ordinance regulates the requirements for short-term entry only by third-country nationals into the Schengen area via an external Schengen border.

It did not apply to the entry of nationals of the Schengen area member states, even if they wanted to enter a Schengen state of which they were not citizens (example: a German wanted to enter Greece from Turkey ; the regulation was not applicable to the German). Citizens of the European Union and other EEA countries as well as Swiss nationals could and can enter any Schengen country at any time - regardless of the external border - without formalities and enjoy full freedom of movement within the Schengen countries; they neither need a visa nor a residence permit . A document proving your nationality is sufficient.

The regulation was also not applicable to British and Irish nationals wishing to enter the Schengen area, as the British and Irish are not third country nationals from the Schengen countries' point of view. The British and Irish enjoy full freedom of movement in the rest of the European Union and the EEA and do not need a visa or a residence permit to stay in a Schengen state (the same applies in the opposite case).

Short term stays

The ordinance only concerned short stays of up to 90 days in a period of 180 days, i.e. mainly short tourist stays. Permanent stays (e.g. for family reunification, for studying, for permanent work) were not covered by the regulation. In these cases, a national visa was and is regularly required (even if the short-term tourist stay would be visa-free), which expressly allows this purpose of stay. The issuance of such a visa is based on the national residence regulations of the Schengen state in which the permanent residence is intended.

Border crossing at the external border of the Schengen area

The regulation only applied to the entry of third-country nationals into the Schengen area via an external border of a Schengen state, i.e. not when crossing an internal border (e.g. between Germany and France ). The special provisions of the Schengen Implementation Convention (SDÜ) apply to cross-border passenger traffic within the Schengen area . According to Articles 20 and 21 of the CISA, a third-country national who is legally resident in any Schengen state can use a residence permit, a visa from this member state or - in the case of a visa-free entry - only with his national passport in any other member state up to 90 Days within a period of 180 days without the need for an additional visa.

Between the Schengen States do no regular place checks on persons rather than more; At the borders of Switzerland to its neighboring states and at the borders to the other states of the EEA there is still a customs control because Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway do not belong to the customs territory of the European Union and reciprocal customs regulations and import restrictions and bans apply here are to be observed. All travelers are subject to such customs controls.

Content of the regulation

Visa exemption

The core of the ordinance was the definition of those states whose citizens could enter the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days within a period of 180 days without a visa (Art. 1, Paragraph 2 in conjunction with Annex II). In the case of nationals of these states, it was sufficient that they merely presented their valid national passport at an external border of the Schengen area. There they were given a border control stamp and were allowed to stay in any state of the Schengen area for up to 90 days within a period of 180 days.

Citizens of:

  • As of June 9, 2014, all UK citizens who are not UK nationals for the purposes of Union law have been eligible for the visa waiver. The separate listing of certain British nationals was based on the complex British nationality law that distinguishes British citizens from all other British people who do not have a right of abode in the UK. The last-mentioned group of people, who are third-country nationals, include
    • British nationals (overseas territories) , engl. British Nationals (Overseas) (these were already exempt from the visa requirement before June 9, 2014),
    • Citizens of the British Overseas Territories Citizens ,
    • British Overseas Citizens (Engl. British Overseas Citizens )
    • Persons under the protection of the United Kingdom ( British Protected Persons )
    • British subjects (English, British Subjects ).
  • Citizens of Taiwan were as visa-exempt. They were listed in a special group in the regulation as Taiwan is not recognized by all Member States.

According to Art. 1, Paragraph 2, there was also a visa exemption

A reciprocity mechanism was inserted into the EU visa regulation with Regulation (EC) No. 851/2005, which came into effect if a third country did not grant citizens of one or more EU member states a visa exemption.

Visa requirement

In Art. 1 Para. 1 i. V. Annex I lists those states whose nationals always had to have a visa when crossing the external borders of the member states. The list, which is basically a sweep of Appendix II, is not just a complement. On the one hand, the complicated British nationality law required the respective beneficiaries to be listed in both groups by June 9, 2014. On the other hand, when a new state was founded, the question of visa exemption up to a new regulation initially followed the previous nationality of the person concerned (Art. 1 Para. 3 of the ordinance). That is why a list of the so-called "negative states" was necessary. According to this regulation, the new state of South Sudan came under Appendix I, since it emerged from the territory of Sudan ; after an amendment to the ordinance, it was expressly listed in Appendix I.

The general visa requirement were nationals of

Afghanistan , Egypt , Algeria , Angola , Equatorial Guinea , Armenia , Azerbaijan , Ethiopia , Bahrain , Bangladesh , Belarus , Belize , Benin , Bhutan , Burma / Myanmar , Bolivia , Botswana , Burkina Faso , Burundi , China , Côte d'Ivoire , Democratic Republic Congo , Dominican Republic , Djibouti , Ecuador , Eritrea , Fiji , Gabon , Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Guyana , Haiti , India , Indonesia , Iraq , Iran , Jamaica , Yemen , Jordan , Cambodia , Cameroon , Cape Verde , Kazakhstan , Qatar , Kenya , Kyrgyzstan , Comoros , Congo , Cuba , Kuwait , Laos , Lesotho , Lebanon , Liberia , Libya , Madagascar , Malawi , Maldives , Mali , Morocco , Mauritania , Mongolia , Mozambique , Namibia , Nepal , Niger , Nigeria , North Korea , Oman , Pakistan , Papua New Guinea , Philippines , Rwanda , Russia , Zambia , São Tomé and Príncipe , Saudi Arabia , Senegal , Sierra Leone , Zimbabwe , Somalia , Sri Lanka , South Africa , South Sudan , Sudan , Suriname , Swazila nd , Syria , Tajikistan , Tanzania , Thailand , Togo , Chad , Tunisia , Turkey , Turkmenistan , Uganda , Uzbekistan , Vietnam and Central African Republic .

In addition, people with passports of the Palestinian Authority and Kosovo were required to have a visa in accordance with Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council of 10 June 1999; these areas are listed separately because they are not recognized as a state by at least one EU member state.

Until the conclusion of a visa waiver agreement, citizens of Dominica , Grenada , Kiribati , Colombia , Marshall Islands , Micronesia , Nauru , Palau , Peru , Solomon Islands , Samoa , St. Kitts and Nevis , St. Lucia , St. Vincent and the Grenadines , Timor-Leste , Tonga , Trinidad and Tobago , Tuvalu , Vanuatu and the United Arab Emirates .

Exceptions to the visa requirement

Article 4 (1) of the regulation empowered the member states to adopt exemptions from the visa requirement for certain groups of people (e.g. for holders of diplomatic passports , flight and security personnel). Germany had made use of this in several provisions, namely in § 19 , § 23 , § 24 and in § 25 AufenthV.

Withdrawal exemptions from the visa exemption

An important provision was the authorization in Article 4 (3) of the regulation. This allowed Member States to lift the visa waiver for nationals who were gainfully employed during their stay .

literature

  • Volker Westphal, Edgar Stoppa : Entry and residence according to the new visa regulation No. 539/2001 , InfAuslR 2001, 309

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. First published in OJ. L 81 of March 21, 2001, p. 1.
  2. a b c d e Official note: The visa exemption only applies to holders of biometric passports.
  3. a b c d e Official note: The visa exemption applies from the date of entry into force of an agreement to be concluded with the European Community on the exemption from the visa requirement.
  4. a b c Official note: The visa waiver only applies to holders of biometric passports that have been issued in accordance with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
  5. Official note: The visa waiver applies only to holders of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport.
  6. Official note: The visa exemption only applies to holders of the “Região Administrativa Especial de Macau” passport.
  7. Official note: The visa waiver only applies to holders of Taiwan-issued passports that contain an ID number.