eu-com-schengen-coop

EUROPEAN UNION
DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
TO THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
االتحاد األوروبي
مندوبية االتحاد األوروبي الى
المملكة العربية السعودية
LOCAL SCHENGEN COOPERATION (LSC) in Saudi Arabia
2013-2014 REPORT 82
Riyadh, 09/09/2014
JW/D/494
1. Introduction
A total of 18 Schengen Member States 83 are represented in Riyadh. Four of them 84 also have
consulates in Jeddah, after closure of the Swiss consulate during the reporting period. Some
Schengen member states are making use of an external service provider (ESP) to collect visa
applications. This is currently the case for Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Malta and Spain.
Switzerland announced the use of an ESP in Jeddah and Riyadh as of April. Sweden is negotiating a
contract with an ESP as well, with a signature foreseen for April. All countries are using the same
company, VFS Global. Some of these MS only use the company's visa application centre in Riyadh,
others also use those in Jeddah and Dammam.
2. LSC meetings held in 2013-2014
LSC regularly met every second month at the EUD, chaired by EUD. In the reporting period, a total
of six meetings took place. LSC meetings are open to all EUMS as observers; one of the non-
Schengen countries occasionally attended. As guest, the head of visa section of the US embassy
took part in one meeting during the reporting period.
Meetings were always well attended with usually 15-16 MS present; none of the MS was regularly
absent. EUD drafted the minutes of the meetings and shared them with the MS in Riyadh. MS
regularly informed their consulates in Jeddah of the outcomes of the LSC meetings. Most MS share
the minutes with their capitals.
LSC continued to hold its meetings back-to-back with Consular Cooperation meetings.
3. State of play
3.1 Application of the Visa Code
82 April 2013 – March 2014
83 AT, BE, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, EL, HU, IT, MT, NL, PL, PT, ES, SE, CH, NO
84 FR, DE, EL, IT
12893/14 PR/lm 147
DG D 1 A
EN