The new premises housing Malta’s Central Visa Unit, was inaugurated this morning by the Hon. Dr. Tonio Borg, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Unit, established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006, is equipped to forward and process visa requests rapidly, via the VMS – Visa Management System – which together with the networking facilitation between all of Malta’s diplomatic missions and consular posts, plays a vital role in authorization procedures.

Mr Paul Demajo Albanese, Head of the Central Visa Unit, explained that the CVU seeks to establish an effective and professional immigration control in the interests of sustainable growth and social inclusion, not only in respect of Malta, but also for the rest of Europe. It is committed to ensuring that all those who have a genuine reason to come to Malta, do so with as little inconvenience as possible.

The Central Visa Unit presently has 12 employees, ranging from management positions to information clerks, visa officers, visa monitoring officers, procurement and security personnel.

During the opening address, Minister Tonio Borg said that Malta currently has no less than 26 diplomatic missions and consular posts. Furthermore, established relations have also offered the possibility to deal with another 87 countries through representations set up in Italy, Austria and Spain. Overall, this adds up to a total of 113 countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently in the process of opening three Consulates in Turkey, Tel Aviv and Ramallah. In countries without a Maltese diplomatic representation, efforts are being directed towards facilitating visa issuance through the representations of other countries. A case in point is the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Spanish Government last year.

On a separate note, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently undertaking an initiative aimed towards strengthening security features within Maltese embassies. The security features are in line with the regulations as laid down by the Schengen Treaty and are expected to assist in the preparation for the eventual introduction of VIS – a European visa system – throughout January 2010.

Security features will employ the latest finger print technology available. Enhanced security is liable to bring about increased burdens; nonetheless, attention is being directed towards achieving a user-friendly system to both visa applicants and general customers alike. This investment should also result in increased efficiency on behalf of Embassy employees.

This project is jointly co-financed by the European Union and the Maltese Government, totalling to €2.4 million with the estimated completion expected towards the end of 2009.