Visa Suspension Mechanism as a last resort to protect the Schengen area

This article focuses on the visa policy of the Schengen area and more specifically on the EC Regulation 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas and those whose nationals are exempt from this requirement while crossing the external borders. This Regulation has faced many amendments, whether adding and removing countries from the lists or the amendment of mechanisms and other tools. A peculiar feature of this policy is that even though a country can be exempted from visa requirement after achieving and fulfilling the required criteria, there are some scenarios or emergency cases that can force the reintroduction of the visa requirement for the concerned country, such as the increase of unfounded asylum applications or security concerns. The article will be focused on the recent changes that the mechanism used in such cases, known as Visa suspension mechanism, has undergone recently.