The Europeanisation of consular affairs: The case of visa policy

Abstract:
In recent years there has been an increasing degree of interest in the literature regarding the changes that the process of European integration has meant for the external administration of the member states. The current paper seeks to contribute to the study of this question through the analysis of an area that until now has received little attention: the Europeanisation of the consular function concerning the issuing of visas. Since the end of the 1990s, the process of legislative harmonisation of visa extensions represents one of the consequences of the common policy of EU external border management. The current paper analyses this phenomenon of convergence and raises questions concerning the main consequences for the consular administrations of Schengen member states in third countries.