On 18–19 September 2024, an annual training event on visa-related matters for consular officers from the Latvian diplomatic and consular missions is held in Warsaw, Poland.
The two-day training brings together 32 consular officers from 22 Latvian diplomatic missions accepting visa applications: Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Georgia, Ireland, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uzbekistan.
The aim of the training course is to improve the knowledge and skills of consular officers in the processing of visa applications and issuing visas. The trainees will look at the topics covering current challenges in migration security, planned amendments to laws and regulations, as well as acquiring practical skills in visa processing. Training includes a visit to Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, where the Agency experts will update the consular officers on latest trends in document fraud and on migration-related developments.
Experts from various institutions in Latvia, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, and the State Border Guard, as well as the Frontex agency are contributing to the training sessions as lecturers.
The present training course is held as part of a project, “Providing regional training for consular officers of the Republic of Latvia on EU policy on issuing uniform visas in line with the requirements of the European Visa Code (1st stage)”, with financial support from the European Union’s Border Management and Visa Instrument (Contract No. ĀM/RPVP/2024/3).