欧盟提议部分暂停瓦努阿图护照免签

根据欧盟委员会新闻稿，1月12日委员会提议部分暂停与瓦努阿图的免签协议，该协议允许瓦努阿图的公民无需签证即可入境欧盟，并可在任何180天内停留最多90天，暂停协议的原因是瓦努阿图的投资公民计划正在对欧盟成员国的安全构成风险。

据SchengenVisaInfo.com报道，委员会的提议是在与瓦努阿图进行广泛交流之后提出的，包括事先可能暂停签证豁免的警告。

瓦努阿图经济护照计划允许第三国公民获得其公民身份，前提是他们投资至少130,000美元。这意味着进行此类投资的第三国国民可以通过此途径免签证进入欧盟。

考虑到瓦努阿图向国际刑警组织数据库名单内的申请人授予公民身份、瓦努阿图护照申请拒绝率低、申请处理时间短以及没有与申请人原籍国进行系统信息交换的原因，委员会得出结论认为，瓦努阿图的投资者公民身份计划构成欧盟及其成员国的安全风险加大。

出于这个原因，委员会正在等待欧盟理事会审查该提案并暂停免签证协议。

瓦努阿图自2015年以来一直在推动投资者公民计划。因此，如果该提案获得批准，则暂停免签证进入欧盟将适用于自2015年5月25日起签发的所有普通护照持有人。

“瓦努阿图自2015年以来运营的投资公民计划是商业推广行为，其明确目的是授予免签证进入欧盟的护照，而免签证协议签订的宗旨不是允许需要签证的旅行者通过获得瓦努阿图公民身份来规避签证要求”委员会的声明中写道。

因此，这意味着这些护照的持有人将不再允许免签前往欧盟成员国，尽管如此，这些护照持有人仍然可以申请签证访问欧盟。

据透露，如果理事会决定通过这个提议，瓦努阿图政府将会提前两个月获得通知，与此同时，委员会需要与瓦努阿图加强对话。

英文原文如下

The European Commission has proposed to partially suspend the visa waiver agreement with the Republic of Vanuatu.

According to a press release issued by the Commission today, on January 12, the agreement with Vanuatu, which allows the latter’s citizens to travel to the EU without a visa for stays up to 90 days in any 180-period, should be suspended since Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes are posing risks on the security of the EU Member States.

The Commission’s proposal follows extensive exchanges with Vanuatu, including prior warnings regarding the possibility of visa waiver suspension, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The golden passport scheme that Vanuatu has allows citizens of third countries to obtain citizenship, provided that they make an investment of at least $130,000. This means that third-country nationals who make such an investment can enjoy visa-free access to the EU.

Taking into account that Vanuatu has granted citizenship to applicants listed in Interpol’s databases, has a low rejection rate, short processing time of applications as well no systematic exchange of information with the applicants’ origin country, the Commission has concluded that Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes pose heightened risks for the security of the EU and its Member States.

For this reason, the Commission is waiting for the Council of the European Union to examine the proposal and suspend the visa waiver agreement.

Vanuatu has been promoting investor citizenship schemes since 2015. Thus, if the proposal gets approved, the suspension of visa-free access to the EU would be applicable to all holders of ordinary passports that were issued as of May 25, 2015.

“Investor citizenship schemes operated by Vanuatu since 2015 are commercially promoted with the expressed purpose of granting visa-free access to the EU, while the visa waiver agreement is not aimed at allowing visa-required travellers to circumvent the visa requirement by acquiring Vanuatu citizenship,” the statement of the Commission reads.

Accordingly, this means that the holders of these visas would no longer be allowed to travel to the EU Member States without holding a valid visa. Nonetheless, everyone would still be able to apply for a visa to visit the EU.

It has been revealed that Vanuatu will be informed at least two months before the suspension is applied if the Council decides to take such a decision. In the meantime, the Commission needs to establish an enhanced dialogue with Vanuatu.