Initiative of the French Republic with a view to adopting a Council Regulation on freedom of movement with a long-stay visa
Date: 2000-07-13
Institutions: France
Subjects: EU Member State, EU visa policy, France, Schengen Agreement, free movement of persons

C 200/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

13.7.2000

Initiative of the French Republic with a view to the adoption of a Council Regulation on freedom
of movement with a long-stay visa

(2000/C 200/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Articles 62(2)(b)(ii) and 63(3)(a)
thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the French Republic (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Whereas:

(1) This Regulation constitutes a development of the Scheng-
en acquis within the meaning of the Protocol integrating
the Schengen acquis into the framework of the European
Union.

(2) There may be a time lag between the arrival on a Member
State’s territory of a person holding a national long-stay
visa issued by that Member State and the moment when
the person receives a residence permit enabling him or
her to move freely in the other Member States’ territories.

(3)

Steps should be taken to facilitate the free movement of
holders of national long-stay visas pending the issue of
their residence permits, by stipulating that such visas,
which currently enable their holders to transit only once
through the territories of the other Member States in
order to reach the territory of the State which issued the
visa, are concurrently valid as uniform short-stay visas,
provided that the applicants fulfil the conditions of entry
and residence laid down in the Convention implementing
the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1990.

(5) As a result the Convention implementing the Schengen
Agreement at the Common Consular Instructions on
Visas for the Diplomatic Missions and Consular Posts (3)
should be amended,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Article 18 of the Convention implementing the Schengen
Agreement shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 18

Visas for stays exceeding three months shall be national visas
issued by one of the Member States in accordance with its
national law. For three months as from their initial date of
validity such visas shall be valid concurrently as uniform short-
stay visas, provided that their holders fulfil the entry conditions
referred to in Article 5(1)(a), (c), (d) and (e). Otherwise, such
visas shall merely enable their holders to transit through the
territories of the other Member States in order to reach the
territory of the Member State which issued the visa, unless the
holders do not fulfil the entry conditions referred to in Article
5(1)(a), (d) and (e) or are on the national list of alerts of the
Member State through territory they seek to transit.’

Article 2

Section 2.2 of Part I of the Common Consular Instructions on
Visas shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.2.

Long-stay visas

(4) This measure is a first step in the harmonisation of the
conditions for the issue of national long-stay visas.

Visas for visits exceeding three months shall be national visas
issued by one of the Member States in accordance with its
national legislation.

(1) OJ C 200, 13.7.2000, p. 4.
(2) OJ C ... .

(3) OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 1.

13.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 200/5

However, such visas shall, for three months from their initial
date of validity, be valid concurrently as uniform short-stay
visas, provided that their holders fulfil the entry conditions
referred to in Article 5(1)(a), (c), (d) and (e) of the Convention
and reproduced in Part IV of these Instructions. Otherwise,
such visas shall merely enable their holders to transit through
the territories of the other Contracting Parties in order to reach
the territory of the Member State which issued the visa, unless
the holders do not fulfil the entry conditions referred to in

Article 5(1)(a), (d) and (e) or are on the national list of alerts of
the Member State through whose territory they seek to transit.’

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following
that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States
in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community.

Done at ...

For the Council

The President

...