Schengen Visa Implementation and Transnational Policymaking by Federica Infantino

Author:Federica Infantino
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030106478
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

At the consulate of Italy, the applicants’ entrance is located on one side of the building. The entrance and exit doors are higher than the ground level. They both stand on a platform that looks like a stage fenced by gray iron rods (Figs. 2 and 3). The platform is accessible only from one side through a footbridge that constitutes the path visitors must follow to enter the building. A grey iron roof covers the footbridge. The fenced platform is the work area of Moroccan private security guards (two or three guards at a time). From their higher position, on the platform, one can only address them from below, through the bars of the fence that surrounds the platform. The people addressing them are mostly information seekers. Information seekers are so numerous that, occasionally, crush barriers appear to impede applicants from asking for information by coming closer to the area where private security guards stand. At the entrance to the visa section, there is a shelter for the queue of applicants. Moroccan policemen manage and organize the queue. Under the shelter, safe-deposit boxes for leaving personal belongings before entering the consulate are at applicants’ disposal. As soon as applicants enter the footbridge, private security guards handle them and authorize entry only in small groups or one by one. The reception arrangements described here result from the reorganization promoted by the previous consul general . Officers who have experienced this development consider it a significant improvement in the interaction with applicants. The spatial reorganization has improved the ability of street-level bureaucrats seeking control over applicants. Private security guards and the Carabinieri are not only fulfilling a security task but also ensuring the control over applicants and the implementation process.

Fig. 2Entrance to the Italian visa section

(Photo by The Author)

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