Peru is awaiting a European Union report to sign the Schengen Visa waiver agreement that would lift visa requirements for Peruvian citizens who want to visit any of 26 Schengen states for short stays of up to 90 days.
"We are awaiting the completion of a European Union report that will provide the framework required to sign an agreement on the exemption of Schengen visa requirements for Peruvians," said Gonzalo Gutierrez, Peru's Foreign Minister.
According to the high government official, the elimination of visa requirements will require an effort on the part of Peru to modify a number of requirements, such as changing the current passport to a high-tech one.
"The Interior Minister is already working on the development of a high-tech machine-readable biometric passport", he added.
The European Commission is carrying out a “risk analysis” on a list of criteria— such as the danger of illegal immigration, the impact on public order, safety, economic advantages, and the effects of tourism on foreign commerce- before beginning negotiations on creating bilateral agreements on the exemption of visa requirements.
The Schengen area is made up of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Monaco, Germany, Greece and Hungary.
Likewise, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland are part of this bloc.
(END) MDV/VVS/DLG/RMB