Schengen Visa Types according to the purpose of travel

When an applicant fills the Schengen Visa application form, he or she will also have to choose a goal of why he or she is applying to enter the Schengen territory. Following finding these goals, and an explanation on what each of them stands for:

Airport Transit – this purpose of entry is for people who want to travel through the global zone of a Schengen Country Airport without joining the Schengen Country. The Schengen countries have created a very narrow list of countries the nationals of which need to be the possession of this visa. Some of the member countries have added new other countries in their list. Despite the fact that to transit in some states you may not need a visa, depending on your origin you might need it in others.

Transit – Often foreign seafarers, who only need to stop for very short-term periods by the port of one of the member countries, check this purpose of travel in their application form.

Tourism – one of the most popular purposes of travelling to the Schengen Zone. People who are thinking to visit any of the countries in this territory for sightseeing and experiencing their culture, architecture, foods and much more, should select this idea of travelling in their application form.

Visiting Family or Friends – people who have family members or friends lawfully living in the Schengen area can apply for this visa if they want to visit them. There are some special requirements for this visa that the applicant must fulfil for the application to be successful, like i.e. a letter of invitation.

Business – a lot of people travel often to and from the Schengen countries for business purposes. The perks of applying for such a visa are common, as i.e. being able to get a faster appointment during the peak season of visa applications when there is a high amount of people applying.

Official Visit – you will have to tick “Official Visit” in your petition form if you are travelling to the Schengen Area on official duty. You will have to check this visa purpose even if you are travelling concurrently with a large delegation with the same travel dates and official purpose.

Medical reasons – If you are travelling to any of the member countries of the Schengen area to seek medical treatment, you should select ‘medical reasons’ in your petition. This visa allows immigrants to get the medical care they require at any medical clinic or hospital for a duration of three months within 180 days.

Study Purposes – pupils and students that wish to visit any type of educational institutions, like university courses, language courses and other, for a time shorter than three months, can apply for a Schengen study visa. Those who need to take an entrance exam for school or university in the Schengen Area should also tick this visa purpose.

Cultural, Sports and Film Crews – a visa established for people living outside of the Schengen area, wishing to travel to Europe for the purpose of attending a Cultural / Sports / Religious Event and Film Crews. The applicant should be part of the event, as i.e. a performer at a concert, or a writer presenting their book at a book fair, and not only the audience.

Other – If your purpose of the entrance to the Schengen Area seems not match any of the purposes given above, you will have to tick the “Other” option in the application form. However, you will still need to specify what the reason behind your application is. You will have the chance to do so in a short simple sentence, at most. I.e. if wish to enter any of the member states to attend a religious event or something similar, you can write “Religious Visit” or “Religious Purposes”.

Why to immigrate to Eurpe

There are a lot of opportunities in Europe that Immigrants can get. Starting from work oppertunities to business start-ups. Some of the EU countries need a larger population so these countries might accept Immigrants from outside of Europe.

Europe's population is foreseen to decline over the next 50 years. Italy might lose 28% of its population by 2050. To preserve its working-age population, Italy would have to start importing more than 350,000 immigrants per year, or alternatively, keep its citizens working until the age of 75.

Congress recently approved an additional 200,000 visas for skilled workers. European governments are taking similar steps. Germany wants 20,000 IT workers from outside EU, in particular, software engineers from India. Also, Britain wants to hire Eastern European computer experts, but only too eager to eliminate their less qualified compatriots.

If you need more information about moving to Europe, feel free to contact us: http://www.immigration-residency.eu/contacts/

History of immigration to Europe

Migration has shaped European history. Merchants, craftsmen and intellectuals have crossed the continent for centuries to practice their business or start a new life. Millions emigrated from Europe to the colonies and then to America and the antipodes.

Wider immigration in Western Europe is more recent. From 1960 to 1973, the number of foreign workers in Western Europe doubled from 3 to 6% of the workforce. It was highest in places like the United Kingdom and France, with relatively free access to citizens of their former colonies; In Germany, too, the number of foreigners (almost half Turkish) increased by 4 million in the 25 years after 1960, although they rarely became citizens. However, primary immigration to Europe - driven by labour needs - all ended with the 1973 oil crisis. The foreign-born population continues to grow, also because tens of thousands of residence permits are still issued every year in most countries. EU countries also issue thousands of work permits every year. In the United Kingdom in 1997, almost half of the 54,000 permits were issued to Americans and Japanese, mainly in highly qualified employment; Elsewhere in Europe, permits are often given to seasonal farmworkers. But the share of the foreign-born population in the EU remains low, ranging from 9% in Austria, Belgium and Germany to below 2% in Spain.

The number of people applying for asylum has increased rapidly since the late 1980s. In 1984, there were only 104,000 applications in Western Europe. This number increased to 692,000 in 1992 but declined during the 1990s. The figures rose again to 350,000 in 1998 and around 400,000 in 1999, although they have begun to decline this year. As a result, asylum has become one of the main means of immigration into the EU.

Even nowadays many people want to claim asylum in the EU, which means legally moving to a new country for safety reasons and it is still possible.

Residence permit in Latvia based on real estate

One of the most popular methods based on investment to obtain a Latvian residence permit is obtaining a residence permit based on the purchase of the real estate. According to statistics provided by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, in 2012 alone 2,435 foreigners applied for a residence permit based on the acquisition of real estate in Latvia, and in 2013 - 3,085 foreigners.

Of the types of investment eligible for a residence permit, real estate investment provides the best liquidity and security, while also being the most efficient way to obtain approval from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs with the highest level of approval.

To obtain a residence permit for 5 years in Latvia, with the possibility of a later extension, some legal obligations have to be fulfilled:

• The property must be bought after 01.09.2014 and at the time of filing the request for a residence permit you must possess the certificate from the Land Register which confirms your title;
• The total price of the purchase must not be less than EUR 250 000;
• The purchase contract and the Land Register certificate must be completed in the name of the person requesting the residence permit;
• The cadastral value (Like a property tax valuation in the US) of the property must be higher than EUR 80 000;
• Payment must be made in non-cash form. (i.e. bank transfer of funds);
• Immigration law states that property should have been bought from a legal person or natural person registered in the republic of Latvia, who is citizen of Latvia, a non-citizen of Latvia, a citizen of the European Union or other immigrant, who is staying in the Republic of Latvia with a valid residence permit, if a foreigner has purchased the real estate from a person who is not in above mentioned list - Most probably the request for a residence permit will denied;
• The purchaser has to pay from his/her funds - that is not to say that a loan or financial assistance cannot be obtained from another person or institution, but such funds would need to be in the buyers's account prior to the purchase, such that payment for the property comes direct from with individual from funds available to him/her;
• All relevant real estate taxes must be settled;