Humanitarian visa: an innovating approach on visa admissibility based on humanitarian grounds for asylum seekers

Abstract

The present research intends to analyse the European Union law with regard to “Protected Entry Procedures” for individuals who need international protection in order to entering EU territory. The focus of this study is the asylum seekers’ issues, more specifically how the EU Visa Code provides the “asylum status” based on humanitarian grounds stated on articles 25 (1) and 19 (4). Currently, the European Union is facing one of the highest mass movements of asylum seekers during the last years. The European Community has adopted measures in order to grant refugees status through a Common European Asylum System among its Member States; and, for those asylum seekers that are within the EU territory. However, the law does not safeguard those who need legal channels to reach a Member State. Therefore, this study examines the implementation of the humanitarian visa by the Member States’ practices in order to offer safe legal entry for asylum seekers, where the Member States meet their obligations under international human rights instruments.. Likewise, we attempt to analyse how the European Community is trying to stimulate the Member States to make use of the humanitarian visa. This research proposes a recast on the EU Visa Code in order to harmonise the issuing of humanitarian visas.