This EMN Inform summarizes key findings from the EMN study examining the effects of visa policy on the management of migration, both in terms of facilitating legal migration  and preventing irregular migration and generating evidence to support the effectiveness of different strategies to use visa policy to manage migration, including cooperation with third countries particularly concerning facilitation and bilateral/multilateral agreements, and highlighting challenges and best practices.

Key findings include the following:

• There  is strong evidence that a nexus does exist in a number of Member States between visa and migration policy, with practices serving to manage migration, both in terms of facilitating entry and admission and preventing irregular migration.
• National visa policy is used in many Member States to facilitate, and,  in some cases, promote particular types of legal migration, such as  economic migration,  migration for the purpose of study,  migration of  highly-skilled workers  and/or  migration  from  specific third countries. In these cases, visa procedures are geared to simplify the process of entry and admission to the Member State.
• The form of the nexus differs greatly across  the Member States.  There is  no  overarching principle or theory applied in many instances on whether a migrant from a specific third country must apply for a national type “D” visa and/or a residence permit in the country of origin, or upon arrival in the Member State.
• Historic or ad hoc considerations relating to changes in migration trends and circumstances seem to have influenced Member States’ decisions on how best to use visa policy to manage migration, and a  mosaic of visa and residence permit requirements therefore exists in several EU Member States.