Latest News

January 8 2008:
The Legal and Consular Department of the Embassy will be closed for the public on January 14, 2008 due to internal training of the staff. We apologize for any inconvenience.

December 21 2007:
Nine new countries joined the Schengen area on Dec. 21, 2007

On December 6, 2007, the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council decided to positively evalu­ate nine of the countries which acceded to the EU on May 1, 2004 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Malta) with regard to the Schengen acquis, thus confirming that they meet the Schengen standards (protection of external borders, visa issuance, data protection, police cooperation) and the technical requirements (link-up to the SIS system, which enables Schengen states to access data on specific individuals, or goods thought to be lost or stolen).

These states will therefore be applying the Schengen acquis in full from December 21, 2007 onwards. As a result, third-country nationals in possession of a Schengen visa will also be able to stay in any of the nine new EU member states as of December 21, 2007. At the same time, these states will themselves be issuing uniform Schengen visas as of this date. Further­more, internal border checks at land and sea borders will be abolished. Controls on flights within the Schengen area will not be discontinued until the start of the new flight schedules on March 30, 2008.

Cyprus had decided to apply the Schengen acquis in full at a later date. Nor will the new member states which acceded in 2007, Bulgaria and Romania, apply the Schengen acquis in full as yet.

October 1 2007:
Payment in Recognition of Work in a Ghetto

On October 1 2007 the Federal Government adopted an ordinance relating to work in a ghetto. It states that entitled persons are to receive a one-time payment to the amount of 2,000 Euro.
Application (PDF, 40 KB)
INFO in English (PDF, 60 KB)