Europe to open doors for asylum seekers through humanitarian visa. This new visa will allow asylum seekers to apply for humanitarian visa in the Embassies of EU countries in their homeland. Through this they would be able to reach Europe legally without using any illegal pathways.
On 14 December 2018, EU Parliament approved the proposal of granting humanitarian visa (reported by InfoMigrants.net, a collaboration of France 24, DW, and ANSA). It has asked European Commission to present legislative proposal by 31 March 2019 for establishing Humanitarian Visa. The legislative initiative was approved by 429 MEPs against 194 and 41 abstentions.
After getting this visa from participating European countries, asylum seekers will be able to come to that country for the sole purpose of applying for international protection.
This legislation aims bringing down the death toll rate to zero from 30,000 (as 30,000 people have died for such attempts since 2000).
European Union has been urging in the past about the need to control the illegal activities by smugglers and bring down the death toll. However, this year, this has been able to get into a form of a legislation, which will be finally done by European commission. EU Parliament hopes that this agreement will help tackling risks of deaths and human trafficking.
Now the ones facing political prosecution, life threats and other form of protection issues, will be able to apply in European Countries Embassies and consulates for a Humanitarian Visa that will finally allow them to legally travel to visa issuing country and submitting their proper application for international protection. Final procedure of applying is expected to be finalized by European Commission by March 2019.