Changes in the Visa Policies as a Result of the Schengen Membership

The accession of new EU Member States to the Schengen area (in December 2007) prompted many to assert the need for measures to prevent the rise of a new “Iron Curtain” on the eastern Schengen borders. The analysis of officially released data on the number of visas issued to Belarusian, Moldovan, Russian, and Ukrainian nationals between 2005 and 2008 shows that in practice the new Schengen states did not succeed in this regard. This text presents the officially released data and findings from the survey carried out in these four East European countries with a view to assessing the situation