eu-com-schengen-coop

EUROPEAN UNION
DELEGATION TO THAILAND
LOCAL SCHENGEN COOPERATION (LSC) – Bangkok
2013 REPORT
1. Introduction
In 2013, the number of Schengen embassies and consulates remained unchanged in Thailand. In
total, there were nineteen Schengen embassies represented in Bangkok, namely Austria, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, The
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
During the reported period, Schengen embassies issued 194 624 C type visas. The amount
continues to rise, with 187 344 applications in 2012, 170 613 in 2011 and 157 998 in 2010.
As mentioned in previous reports, a growing number of Schengen embassies have had to outsource
their visa application processing services to private companies in order to cope with the increasing
number of visa applications. Currently VFS Global processes visa applications for Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Spain while TLS Contact manages for
France and Switzerland.
The introduction of the VIS system moreover caused a change in the way visa applications are
handled. Some Member States experienced a strong increase in workload.
2. LSC meetings held in 2013
Within the year of 2013, a total of eight LSC meetings were held. Three of those were ad hoc,
thematic meetings; one on the introduction of VIS and two on harmonisation of supporting
documents for visa applications. All these meetings were well attended and participants of the
meetings were active and cooperative.
3. State of play
3.1 Application of the Visa Code
The Visa Code is applied according to the regulations. No major deficiencies or problems were
noted.
3.2 Assessment of the need to harmonise the lists of supporting documents
Harmonisation of supporting documents has been the primary topic of many of the meetings since
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DG D 1 A
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