Breaking Visa Barriers in European Integration

Current requirements for obtaining a visa are a barrier for many young people who want to explore European cultural variety and put efforts to develop an open-minded civil society. We can expect neither a full European integration, nor a good EU neighbourhood if those young people have no opportunity to travel, learn, exchange information and personally experience European Integration. The visa obtaining obstacles cause frustration which leads to intolerance and strengthens prejudices. Therefore we regard visa regimes and obstacles to mobility as tools for exclusion and discrimination.

International mobility of young people helps developing civil society in Europe. It is also an essential element of non-formal and life-long learning and increasing competencies important in the knowledge-based society. The mobility of young people from neighbouring countries into the EU helps to build up stable democratic countries throughout the whole of Europe.

Therefore we call the EU Institutions and the national authorities in charge of migration policies to:

Introduce a special type of visa for young people involved in international youth activities
Abolish fees for visas for the ones involved in cultural, educational and civil society activities
Establish transparent Europe-wide common criteria for visas for young people involved in youth work
Ensure coherent regulations in the field of migration and youth policy, in favor of youth policy
Enable easy and transparent registration procedures for both short- and long-term volunteers and employees in NGYOs.
Develop and implement other policies to enhance the mobility of young people in the wider European area in order to help building a sustainable European civil society based on democratic principles, inclusion, openness, knowledge and cultural exchange.


Mobility is a fundamental freedom recognised by the European Union. European Students Forum AEGEE and other NGOs involved in the European Youth Forum Campaign GET VISAble believe that the right to mobility should be granted not only to EU-citizens, but to everyone who can and wants to contribute to European integration and growth. To achieve this aim we demand that these process leads to abolishment of the above mentioned visa barriers.