Croatia joined the Common Visa Issuing Center on January 1, being the 15th member country, Hungarian Ambassador in Chisinau György Varga said on January 27, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to the diplomat, Croatia is the first non EU member state that will issue visas through the Center. The visas will be validated at the Embassy of Croatia in Bucharest. The applications will be filed in Chisinau, from where they will be sent to Bucharest. The answer will return to Chisinau. The procedure will last for 10 - 14 days, the ambassador said. György Varga also said that the Moldovans can submit applications directly to the Embassy of Croatia in Bucharest, but will have to travel twice to the Romanian capital. A visa for Croatia costs € 36, as against € 35 for the Schengen visas. They are seldom issued free of charge. The Hungarian Ambassador stated no applications for visas for Croatia have been filed so far, but he believes that most of the applications will be lodged in May-September, when many people travel. The Common Visa Issuing Center in Chisinau started work on April 25, 2007. Its aim is to simplify the procedure for getting visas, especially for the European countries that do not have an embassy in Moldova. The Center now issues visas for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Hungary. As many as 17,208 applications were submitted to the Center in 2010, as opposed to 8,000 in 2009. Over 5,200 applicants asked for visas for Greece, 3,000 – for Hungary, 2,500 – for Austria. Almost one third of the applicants wanted to pay visits, while 4,000 to travel. 91% of the applications for visas were accepted, in contrast to 87% in 2009. 54% of the visas were issued free of charge.