Scientific Visa Directive To Be In Force Soon


By Ms. Elke DALL on Jun 01, 2007
Status: Public

“Scientific Visa” is a term used to define permission for third-country nationals to enter, stay and work in the European Union for more than three months for the purpose of carrying out a research project under a hosting agreement with a research organisation. It refers to European instruments which aim to harmonise and accelerate national admission and visa procedures for non-EU researchers.

The main objective is to create a specific residence permit for foreign researchers independent of their contractual status (employee, self-employed, “stipendee”). A “hosting agreement” (contract) needs to be signed between the non-EU researcher and an accredited public or pri-vate European research organisation, specifying the researcher’s status and his/her possession of the necessary scientific skills and financial means. With respect to the current situation, an acceleration of the entry procedures is expected, no form of migration “quota” will be per-mitted, family reunification will be facilitated and mobility within European countries will be eased. The new system has already been adopted in Austria, Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as (although implementing measures are still needed there) in Belgium, Germany and France, and is pending adoption in several other EU countries. This directive doesn’t apply to the United Kingdom and Denmark. The proc-ess should be finalised by October 12, 2007, but it now seems unlikely that all EU Member States will have undertaken the necessary measures by this date.

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