Bulgarians will be Able to Travel for Longer without Visas to Six Island States

Deputy Minister Krassimir Tsipov signed, on behalf of the EU Council, the amendments to the agreements with Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Mauritius, the Seychelles and the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The agreements have been in force since 2010 and the signed amendments will bring them in line with the horizontal changes to the Union's 2013 Union visa legislation.

Changes in the agreements will allow European citizens to travel to the six island states within 90 days within each 180-day period. So far, short-term visits have been up to 60 days within 3 months of the date of first entry.

For subsequent trips a visa had to be requested. Amendments signed today will ease the calculation of the stay of European citizens and facilitate people-to-people contacts.

"The amendments we are signing are not just technical changes to existing agreements to bring them into line with evolving EU legislation What we are doing today is to reaffirm the goals we set in 2009 to maintain friendship between our peoples by enabling our citizens to travel without visas on the territory of the respective state, "Deputy Minister Tsipov said at the official ceremony.