Keep The Key, Share The Gate: Competition Advocacy To States On Visa Application Services

I. Background

Every international journey begins with a passport, but crossing borders often requires a ‘visa’. While a passport establishes identity and nationality, a visa allows its holder to seek entry into another country. The visa process enables the destination State to assess whether the applicant meets its entry requirements and poses any security risk.

Visa adjudication policy therefore serves twin objectives, namely: (a) it regulates and promotes travel, trade and tourism (3Ts); and (b) it protects the State’s security through a pre-entry filtering system.¹ The decision to grant a visa is therefore a core sovereign function, and it stays, and rightly so, with the State or its Consulate, which acts as a regional office of a foreign Government in another country.