Through the Gates of the Fortress: European Visa Policies and the Limits of Immigration Control

Clandestine migration, particularly along the Southern sea borders, dominates the debate on migration control in Europe. On the contrary, even if most irregular migrants are visa over-stayers, remarkably little is known about the management of the EU visa supply. This paper analyzes the role played by visa policy in the European immigration control system. It shows that visa policy has never been exclusively a tool of irregular migration prevention and that the overall trend of short-term visa supply highlights an asymmetric visa regime, increasingly open to Eastern European countries while remarkably rigid across the Mediterranean.