Four years of visa-free regime with EU: 300,000 Moldovans stay illegally

About 14,000 citizens of Moldova have been banned from entering the EU since the visa regime with it was liberalized four years ago, informs FRONTEX, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

Moldova’s Border Police report that the key reason for it is incapability to meet the requirements for entrance to the European Union, lack of finances and failure to meet the limit of legal stay in the EU member states.

Within four years of the visa-free regime, 1,469,917 people resorted to it, 1,170,000 people returned to the republic, while 300,000 Moldovan citizens decided to stay in the EU illegally.

Under the rules, since 2014, Moldovan citizens having biometric passports can stay in the EU for no more 90 days in six months. Those entering the EU must have a medical insurance, and currency (50 EUR for each day of the stay).