Shengen Article
From the March 2001 issue of
The Schengen agreement entered into force in Iceland on 25 March 2001.
What is Schengen?
Schengen is a cooperation of 13 member states of the European Union, Iceland and Norway. The main objective is to enable persons to travel between these states without being subject to personal border control at their internal borders. In practice this means that a passenger arriving in a Schengen state from a non-Schengen state will only be controlled in the former state and no further checks will take place if the person is travelling from that Schengen state to another. Thus, the only control takes place at the first Schengen point of entry. In Iceland this entails that passengers travelling from a third country via Iceland to another Schengen state will be subject to a border control in Iceland but not at his/her final destination in the Schengen Area.
Visa policy
One of the areas, subject to harmonisation in Schengen, is the area of visas. It is in this area where the work of Iceland´s Honorary Consuls will in some aspects be affected. The following changes will take place:
1. A harmonised format of a visa sticker, Schengen visa sticker, will be introduced and will replace the current Icelandic format. This sticker is used by all Schengen states.
2. Visa applications will not be processed by Honorary Consuls. Instead agreements to process all applications for Iceland as well as issuing visas have been initiated with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
3. The same will apply in those countries where Iceland has its own embassy, where Denmark will represent Iceland. This is due to the fact that the rules applicable in the Schengen co-operation would have meant that considerable investment, training and enforcement of manpower would have been necessary to be able to fulfill the obligations of the agreement. According to the Schengen rules only diplomatic missions or consular posts are permitted to issue visas, but not Honorary Consuls.
4. Generally, the applicant shall apply for a visa in the embassy or consulate of the country of main destination.
5. The visa sticker issued will, contrary to previous rules, be valid for travel to all Schengen states. It allows its holder to travel to the Schengen Area and the freedom of movement throughout that area for a maximum period of three months during the first six months following the date of first entry into the area.
6. Icelandic visas issued prior to 25 March 2001 will be valid for travelling to Iceland after that date but not to other Schengen states, (transit will be guaranteed). On the other hand a Schengen visa issued prior to 25 March 2001 will be recognised as a valid visa to Iceland after that date.
