The European Union has not included Bangladesh as one of the countries whose citizens will be eligible to get Schengen visa, as EU begins reopening its borders by the beginning of July.
Citizens of 54 countries will benefit from the reopening, according to the schengenvisainfo.com that posted the information yesterday.
Quoting European news sources, it said EU officials failed to agree on a common list of the countries whose citizens would definitely be banned from entering the block upon reopening but managed to create a list of countries with a better epidemiological situation -- citizens of which will be able to enter Europe by the end of next week.
The citizens of Brazil, Qatar, the US and Russia will only be able to enter Europe at a later date when the epidemiological situation in these countries improves.
Schengen refers to the EU passport-free zone that covers most of the European countries.
"The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travelers," EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said last Thursday, adding that its decisions are "based on health criteria."
On June 11, the Commission presented its recommendation on the reopening of internal Schengen borders on June 15, so that Europeans can travel within the borderless area freely, just as they did pre-pandemic.
At the same time, the commission recommended that the member states should start allowing third-country nationals to enter the EU starting from July 1, gradually and partially, based on the epidemiological situation in each third-country.
The commission recommended certain criteria for the member states, the citizens of which may visit the EU after July 1. Those include epidemiological situation and coronavirus response in that country, the ability to apply containment measures during travel, and whether or not that country has lifted travel restrictions towards the EU.
Based on these conditions, the commission recommended that the nationals of the six Western Balkan countries should be the first to benefit from the abolishment of travel restrictions, all of which are in the above list.
Nationals of the following countries are listed in this draft list to be eligible for Schengen visas: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mauritius, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Serbia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia.
