ABSTRACT
Schengen visas for short-term stays are the most important gateway into the European Union; more than 8,000,000 such visas were delivered in 2023. At the same time, many potential migrants do not qualify for legal entry; their visa applications are rejected or they do not apply for a visa for lack of prospects of success. Anyone trying to decode the European Union's visa policy as a means of selective entry control will have to understand the legal framework, policy debates, and theoretical queries. First, our survey of the history of the ‘Schengen area’ demonstrates that the harmonisation of visa requirements was a conscious choice of external closure that contrasts with the widespread celebration of ‘Schengen’ for the abolition of inter-state bordercontrol9s. On this basis, this contribution identifies, second, the institutional forums and legal mechanisms of the invisible legal fortification in the form of visa requirements. We shall see that legal safeguards exist but do not play a major role in practice. Third, EU institutions are using visa policy as a leverage to increase cooperation with countries of origin and transit in the domains of return and migration management. The novel ‘visa leverage’ receives much attention, whereas the exportation of visa requirements to neighbouring countries, such as Serbia and Türkiye, is often overlooked and difficult to trace.
