Sunday, July 29, 2007

48 hrs Shengen visa for Libyans: True or False ? ( hattip you know who you are )

Interesting positive outcome from the now infamous Bulgarian nurses case.

According to the BBC :

"The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says that as part of the deal the EU is
set to significantly ease restrictions on visas for citizens, which could see
Libyans obtain them within 48 hours."

Hey that means my plans to visit Paris could be even shorter term now :P

However a big dampener :( on this is the following from a recent article in the Tripoli Post .

"The MoU signed between Libya and the EU also contains a series of
commitments from the bloc in various areas,. [...] Other measures include
scholarships and training for Libyan students in European universities in all
subjects and the issuing of visas in exchange for
the dropping of visa requirements for EU citizens visiting
Libya
." ( emphasis mine)

What is this ? you drop visas for EU citizens while the EU reduces the minimum time for Libyans to get a visa from 15 days to 48hrs?

I don't call that a good deal at all. It smacks too much of the way Westerners are allowed in some Arab countries with no visa or with visa on arrival at the port of entry while the people from those Arab countries still need a visa to go to the Western countries. But I can't blame the West here LOL.

16 comments:

mani said...

hehehehehehe now all we need is a deal on air ickets...

its ok wolfie u dont need to be a hater.. we dont have the airport facilities for long ques of white people in our airports lolololol.. i swear the last year i have been laughing my tits off at the ques of white people waiting at the immigration desk in libya while i zoom through into my own country....

aaaaaah payback is soo sweet LOLOLOL..

NOMAD said...

may-be cause the people from ME are more numerous for coming over than the people from EU to go to your countries :lol:

programmer craig said...

How else are all those French people going to get into Libya to build your new nuclear power plant? :O

And how about all those French doctors and nurses who France has agreed to send to Libya for the next 5 years?

Well, I guess nobody can complain that it is the US that is cozying up too much to Libya, right? :)

programmer craig said...

Hey, I signed up for that mingle thing and they are trying to set me up with 21 year old women! What's the deal!? They know how old I am, I just told them! :O

Maya M said...

I agree. It is a demand-and-supply matter. We also have "asymmetric" visa agreements with a number of Western countries.
A year or two ago, a folk dance group from a Bulgarian village was invited to participate in a folk fest in Britain. However, the issuing of their visas was so slow (with the usual argument: we fear that, once in Britain, you'll decide to remain) that the dancers feared they'd receive their visas after the fest, if at all. As a retaliatory measure, they banned British tourists from entering their village. Remarkably, the method worked. But it worked only because there were British wishing to visit the village in the first place.
I'd like to see more Libyans visiting Western countries and fewer Westerners visiting Libya. The whole story with the Bulgarian nurses happened because they were in Libya.

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LadyCroc said...

Luckily Libyans have no problem obtaining visas for Europe - let any Tunisian try going for a holiday in Paris - ROTFL!

NOMAD said...

the Frenchs Cozying up with Qhadafi ? well , in contrary, the Lybians were cozying up after Sarko ; you know, experience learnt them not to put all their eggs in the anglo-saxons'baskets :P

who decided that Lybians are newly frequentable ? your government !

new nuclear power ?

I bet you don't know how this one will work ; it's "not more dangerous than a radiology apparatus" ; and in any way, it is assorted with a contract of 20 years maintenance, that means only french technicians will have access to the reactor ;

your country could have supplieed their old fashion nuclear technology too, but not quite safe (and Lybians knows that) or they would have given the market in second-hand to Areva :D

don't worry for french doctors or nurses they know very well how to handle HIV deseases, (the virus was first isolated in "Institut Pasteur" in Paris)

Lost lybian, history is not what you think it is, otherwise people would keep on vendetta fightings ; if you want to become that wise person I read you try to become, you'll have to fight your demons :P

PH said...

Did you see this Highlander, here are some excerpts :

""Libya made an important strategic decision to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction," she said. "As a result it has put itself on a path that is leading to investment in Libya by Western companies, which could not invest there before. I know that American companies are very interested in working in Libya.

"I sincerely hope that I will be able to visit there soon," Rice said in an interview with Radio Sawa, a U.S.-funded Arabic-language broadcaster."

Brave Heart said...

well i think it is matter of respect, if we respect ourselves, i'm sure others will respect us, but the situation now is different, Libyan gov think reduces visa time is prize but in fact it is not. the other point is that they have strategy and we don't.
anyway if u come to Paris, I'M inviting u to visit London,i promise all Libyan blogger in uk will meet you in the airport.

NOMAD said...

Safia, what you ignore is that Tunisia, Algeria, Marocco have often a double nationality, and those who need to travel for businesses, studies or visiting their family have no visa problem

LadyCroc said...

Nomad, yeah but when I jokingly remarked to a Tunisian police officer in 1994 he would never even get a visa for Europe no matter HOW much French he pretended to speak, he got quite angry?

I wonder why....LOL!

programmer craig said...
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Highlander said...

Mani yes we need cheap plane tickets:) and a new airport !

Nomad believe me there are some many Euros coming to our countries for tourism and Libya is a hotspot it's only the visa which is keeping the a bit regulated .

Craig we're going to have a flux from a lot of western countries Libya is the new hub. (honestly I don't want it to be like Dubai wish they would keep the visa).

Maya the nurses were not tourists they were working, crimes happened everywhere and in all countries it's not because it was Libya that this happened.

Safia, yes I agree we really don't have problems obtaining visas. Usually for Malta it is 3 days and for UK 24hrs and Shengen is anyting from 2 days to 2 weeks. So really it was never a problem I think.

PH thanks I did see that article :P


Brave heart yes self respect is important that's why I do not like assymetric visa agreements.

NOMAD said...

High, I know that lot of people over here like to make the desert trip ; in fact, the "Paris-Dakar" made)makes a good avertizing for it :lol:

Highlander said...

Yes we love the Paris-Dakar race here :)