Schengen zone countries unify visa rules starting from April 5

Transit visas will be preserved, he noted.

The new visa questionnaires will not differ much from the previous ones and will be uniform to all members of the Schengen zone. A citizen will be free to apply for entry visas at all consulates of Schengen zone countries. There will be no national visa questionnaires, and the number of documents necessary for filing a visa application will be strictly regulated.

"People must know precisely which documents must be presented together with the visa questionnaire," he said.

If a visa is denied, reasons for the denial will have to be spelled out, Danilidis said, adding that the new rule would ensure transparency of the visa issue.

Asked whether the novelties might complicate the issue of visas, the officer said that the new rules were bound to make the procedure simpler and predictable. "This is a great achievement of Schengen zone countries. The main goal of these measures is harmonization of the visa issue process," he said.

Russia and the European Union are working on easier visa rules step by step, the officer said. He referred to the preparing Russian-French agreement on preferential terms of the issue of long-term visas. "These efforts are adequate and correct," he said.

The new visa code, which will enter into force in EU member countries on April 5, will not cancel existent visa benefits for Russians, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky told Itar-Tass; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com for full version.