Schengen only for the most patient
With the beginning of summer and the peak tourism season, most Europeans will enjoy their right to free and easy mobility, travelling from their country of origin to other parts of the continent. For Armenian citizens, however, travelling to most parts of Europe is a significantly time- and money-consuming hustle and needs to be planned months, if not a year in advance sometimes.
Although Armenia and the EU have grown closer in the past few years, and Armenia even expressed its desire to join the EU in the future, Armenian citizens have not yet been granted the right to visa-free travel in the Schengen area, unlike Ukrainians, Moldovans and Georgians. This means that, especially in summer, there will be long waiting times at EU member state embassies and visa centres in Yerevan.
Even though processing a Schengen visa application takes around a week and costs a minimum of €35, booking an appointment for the upcoming weeks and even months is often impossible. In addition, to be granted a Schengen visa, Armenian citizens must present various documents, proof of property ownership, and bank references to justify their travel and prove they will not overstay their visas.
In the summer of 2020, I had to travel to Georgia: to pursue my master’s degree in the Netherlands, I needed a visa, which was only obtainable at the Dutch embassy in Tbilisi. Because of the pandemic and the closed Armenia-Georgia border, it took months of communication between the foreign ministries of Armenia and Georgia, as well as the embassy of the Netherlands in Tbilisi. Eventually, some fellow students and I were allowed to cross the border and attend our visa appointments.
Travelling to a neighbouring country for a visa appointment might seem like too much of a hassle for most Europeans. However, many Karabakh Armenians have recently been facing an even bigger travel obstacle. Some of them recently have taken to social media platforms, expressing their distress about several EU member state embassies refusing to consider their visa applications. The embassies, according to them, argue that holders of Armenian passports with the 070 code – denoting Karabakh origin – are to be dismissed for visa appointments. This practice appears to be an arbitrary decision made by some embassies. Information about the issue at the moment is scarce, and it is mainly Karabakh Armenians who are concerned about this potentially discriminatory practice.