Diplomats gathered in Brussels on the morning of 25 June 2026 for meeting nº 366 812 of the Council’s Visa Working Party, the forum that does the technical heavy lifting on Schengen visa policy. Germany, represented by officials from the Federal Foreign Office and the Interior Ministry, joined peers from the other 26 Schengen members, plus the associated states Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Top of the agenda was a discussion paper on a new assessment framework for visa-exempt third countries under Article 25a of the Visa Code. The framework would introduce forward-looking risk indicators – ranging from rising overstay rates to sudden spikes in unfounded asylum applications – and set out a faster procedure to suspend an exemption if benchmarks are breached.
![EU Visa Working Party meets to tighten exemption monitoring – Berlin watches closely]()
Companies and individual travelers who might be affected by any future tightening of the rules can lean on VisaHQ’s end-to-end support platform to stay compliant. From real-time updates on Schengen policy changes to streamlined application processing for German and other European visas, VisaHQ helps users cut through red tape and avoid last-minute surprises. Explore the service at https://www.visahq.com/germany/ for guidance tailored to your travel profile.
Delegations also reviewed “country fiches” on six visa-free partners, with Germany reportedly flagging concerns about increased overstays by citizens of one Gulf state on visit permits that quietly turn into irregular work. For Germany the stakes are high. Schengen-wide visa reciprocity means that any suspension agreed at EU level immediately becomes German law, forcing consulates and outsourcing providers to gear up for a surge in sticker applications. Conversely, German businesses – particularly in automotive supply, IT services and tourism – prize frictionless short-term visits by partners from dynamic markets. Berlin therefore favours a graduated approach involving joint outreach missions and digital information campaigns before the ‘nuclear’ option of re-imposing visas is triggered. Observers expect a formal proposal to revise Article 25a to reach the Justice and Home Affairs Council under the Hungarian Presidency by October. Between now and then corporate mobility teams should map their exposure: if staff frequently travel visa-free from the Western Balkans, Latin America or the Gulf they may need contingency timelines and appointment blocks. The Working Party also exchanged views on ad-hoc measures against countries deemed unco-operative on readmission of overstayers. Germany argued that linking diplomatic visa quotas to readmission performance – an idea floated by several member states – must respect existing business-mobility channels such as the EU Blue Card and ICT permits.
Companies and individual travelers who might be affected by any future tightening of the rules can lean on VisaHQ’s end-to-end support platform to stay compliant. From real-time updates on Schengen policy changes to streamlined application processing for German and other European visas, VisaHQ helps users cut through red tape and avoid last-minute surprises. Explore the service at https://www.visahq.com/germany/ for guidance tailored to your travel profile.
Delegations also reviewed “country fiches” on six visa-free partners, with Germany reportedly flagging concerns about increased overstays by citizens of one Gulf state on visit permits that quietly turn into irregular work. For Germany the stakes are high. Schengen-wide visa reciprocity means that any suspension agreed at EU level immediately becomes German law, forcing consulates and outsourcing providers to gear up for a surge in sticker applications. Conversely, German businesses – particularly in automotive supply, IT services and tourism – prize frictionless short-term visits by partners from dynamic markets. Berlin therefore favours a graduated approach involving joint outreach missions and digital information campaigns before the ‘nuclear’ option of re-imposing visas is triggered. Observers expect a formal proposal to revise Article 25a to reach the Justice and Home Affairs Council under the Hungarian Presidency by October. Between now and then corporate mobility teams should map their exposure: if staff frequently travel visa-free from the Western Balkans, Latin America or the Gulf they may need contingency timelines and appointment blocks. The Working Party also exchanged views on ad-hoc measures against countries deemed unco-operative on readmission of overstayers. Germany argued that linking diplomatic visa quotas to readmission performance – an idea floated by several member states – must respect existing business-mobility channels such as the EU Blue Card and ICT permits.
