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Gotta love the weatherforecast
Apr. 21st, 2010 09:15 am...because it was correct! Sun is shining, birds are singing, sky is blue!
I slept 9 hours and am feeling like new. Except for the Report on Consular Crisis Management, which I still owe the ministry -- but not before 1 May :-) -- I'm done with all the boring stuff. Hair will be cut and dyed this afternoon (not the usual Saturday appointment, because I'd thought I was going to Greece), in the evening dinner with police attaché Stefan and two colleagues from our ministry of interior, one of whom I know quite well but haven't seen for years. Poor guy, he isn't yet aware that I'm going to pick his brain re. the new Schengen visa code, which IMO contradicts some of our most fundamental laws/rights, like e.g. the concerned party's right to appeal the decision of an authority. Might become an interesting discussion.
Also: since 5 April, the Swiss Embassy in Pristina has been representing us re. the issuing of Schengen visas for Kosovarian citzens. One would expect this to decrease our workload considerably. It doesn't, though, because we still receive the electonic "letters of guarantee", which contain all the (important) information about the Austrian sponsors' income, family status, financial obligations etc., but must by no means be forwarded to the Swiss because of data protection. What kind of idiocy is that, I'm asking myself? You have an embassy, which has to make a decision, but only gets 50% of the relevant information, whereas the other 50% are being supplied by us in a rather vague manner, i.e. in the form of comments like "financial means insufficient, I'd refuse". Plus, we have to evaluate the letters of guarantee and write all those comments, which is at least as much, if not more, work than scribbling a few notes on an application form. Plus, the Swiss don't have access to our Alien Information Database, so we also have to do the database search -- unless there is a European or international arrest warrant, people don't show up in the Schengen database, but might still be unwelcome in Austria for minor offences or past asylum apllications. Only -- and that's the punch line -- searching the Alien Information Database is forbidden, unless you have a visa application, which we don't have, because the Swiss have it...
To think that this mess is the result of 4 years of negotiation makes me want to kick those responsible for it.
Maybe there'll be enlightenment tonight, but I sincerely doubt it.
I slept 9 hours and am feeling like new. Except for the Report on Consular Crisis Management, which I still owe the ministry -- but not before 1 May :-) -- I'm done with all the boring stuff. Hair will be cut and dyed this afternoon (not the usual Saturday appointment, because I'd thought I was going to Greece), in the evening dinner with police attaché Stefan and two colleagues from our ministry of interior, one of whom I know quite well but haven't seen for years. Poor guy, he isn't yet aware that I'm going to pick his brain re. the new Schengen visa code, which IMO contradicts some of our most fundamental laws/rights, like e.g. the concerned party's right to appeal the decision of an authority. Might become an interesting discussion.
Also: since 5 April, the Swiss Embassy in Pristina has been representing us re. the issuing of Schengen visas for Kosovarian citzens. One would expect this to decrease our workload considerably. It doesn't, though, because we still receive the electonic "letters of guarantee", which contain all the (important) information about the Austrian sponsors' income, family status, financial obligations etc., but must by no means be forwarded to the Swiss because of data protection. What kind of idiocy is that, I'm asking myself? You have an embassy, which has to make a decision, but only gets 50% of the relevant information, whereas the other 50% are being supplied by us in a rather vague manner, i.e. in the form of comments like "financial means insufficient, I'd refuse". Plus, we have to evaluate the letters of guarantee and write all those comments, which is at least as much, if not more, work than scribbling a few notes on an application form. Plus, the Swiss don't have access to our Alien Information Database, so we also have to do the database search -- unless there is a European or international arrest warrant, people don't show up in the Schengen database, but might still be unwelcome in Austria for minor offences or past asylum apllications. Only -- and that's the punch line -- searching the Alien Information Database is forbidden, unless you have a visa application, which we don't have, because the Swiss have it...
To think that this mess is the result of 4 years of negotiation makes me want to kick those responsible for it.
Maybe there'll be enlightenment tonight, but I sincerely doubt it.
