On 20 and 21 September 2023, consular officers working at Latvia’s diplomatic missions and consular posts abroad, gather in London for their annual training on visa matters.
This training event brings together 33 consular officers from 21 Latvian mission where application for entering the Schengen Area are received, namely, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Georgia, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Uzbekistan.
The purpose of training is to provide consular officers from Latvia’s diplomatic missions and consular posts with the necessary knowledge and the opportunity to share their best practice in visa matters. The officials will take an in-depth look at issues related to current challenges in the area of migration and security; they will examine the planned and already implemented changes to the laws and regulations governing the processing of visa applications, and also acquire practical skills in processing visa applications. In addition, the training session envisages the exchange of experience with British counterparts on current developments in the field of migration.
Lecturers are experts from various public authorities of Latvia, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, and the State Border Guard, as well as from the United Kingdom.
The training event is held as part of a project, “Providing regional training for consular officers on EU policy for issuing uniform visas in line with the requirements of the European Visa Code (2nd stage)”, with financial support from the European Union Internal Security Fund (Contract No. ĀM/IDF/2020/3).
