EU Visa Working Party meets in Brussels to discuss tougher suspension rules for visa-free countries

Delegates from the 27 EU member states gathered in Brussels on 25 June for the latest session of the Council’s **Visa Working Party**, the technical body that shapes Schengen visa policy. High on the agenda: revising Article 25a of the Visa Code, which allows the EU to *suspend* visa-free travel for third-country nationals if their governments fail to cooperate on returns or pose security risks. A discussion paper circulated ahead of the meeting proposes lowering the threshold for triggering a suspension and shortening the lead-time from nine to six months—changes that, if adopted, would give the EU greater leverage over Western Balkan and Latin American states whose nationals sometimes overstay or lodge unfounded asylum claims in Belgium and neighbouring countries. For Belgian employers this matters because 29 % of short-stay business-visa applications processed by Belgian consulates in 2025 involved countries currently enjoying visa-free access. A suspension would mean sudden visa obligations, additional processing costs and possible delays in bringing visitors to headquarters or project sites.



At that juncture, organisations may find it helpful to lean on a specialist such as VisaHQ, which provides real-time monitoring of Schengen rule changes, personalised document checklists and end-to-end filing support for Belgian visas as well as dozens of other destinations. Full details can be found at https://www.visahq.com/belgium/

Lobby groups for the tech and life-sciences sectors, both of which run frequent knowledge-transfer visits from research centres in Argentina, Colombia and Serbia, are urging the Belgian government to push for clear transition periods so that already-ticketed travellers are not stranded. Although Thursday’s meeting was only preparatory, diplomats say a draft legislative text could reach COREPER by September, making Q1 2027 the earliest practical date for any suspension. Mobility managers should nonetheless map workforce dependencies on visa-exempt nationals and begin scenario planning.