On 7 October 2025, the European Parliament approved a reform expanding the circumstances under which the European Union may reintroduce Schengen visa requirements for nationals of countries that currently benefit from visa-free travel to the Schengen area. The measure passed with 518 votes in favour, 96 against, and 24 abstentions, and applies to 61 countries listed in Annex II of the EU Visa Regulation.
The updated mechanism allows the EU to act more swiftly and flexibly when there are security or policy concerns, such as a rise in irregular stays, entry refusals, rejected asylum claims, or serious crimes committed by visa-exempt nationals. The reform introduces new grounds for suspension, better reflecting the EU’s broader foreign-policy and security objectives.
These new elements complement existing grounds for suspension, such as internal-security threats or insufficient cooperation on readmission and align the suspension criteria with those used to grant visa exemption in the first place. The European Commission will also be able to act on its own initiative or upon request of a Member State, taking into account information from other EU institutions.
To discourage misuse of visa-waiver agreements, the reform also gives the EU flexibility to suspend visa-free travel for government officials responsible for human-rights violations or other serious infractions. Quantitative thresholds are set at a 30 percent increase in irregular stays or serious crimes, and a 20 percent threshold for low asylum-recognition rates, though the European Commission may deviate from these thresholds in duly justified cases.
Rapporteur Matjaž Nemec (S&D, Slovenia) emphasized that a modernized mechanism strengthens the EU’s commitment to human rights, international law, and the integrity of its visa policy, while maintaining visa-free travel as a key instrument of EU diplomacy.
The legislation, already agreed informally between the Parliament and the Council, will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, once formally adopted by the Council. Under the new rules, the European Commission may initiate a temporary suspension, which can later become permanent if concerns persist.
To date, the visa exemption has been revoked only once, in the case of Vanuatu.
She is a Legal Counsel and she holds a Ph.D in Law (University of Bologna). She is specialized in European Union Law and she is the Head of the Japanese Desk and Spanish Desk. She is mother tongue Japanese and Spanish and speaks fluently Italian and English.
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