The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

Visa Information System (VIS) is a database containing information, including

biometrics Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify i ...

, on visa applications by Third Country Nationals requiring a visa to enter the

Schengen area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and ...

. The system was established in June 2004 by the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

decision Decision may refer to: Law and politics *Judgment (law), as the outcome of a legal case *Landmark decision, the outcome of a case that sets a legal precedent * ''Per curiam'' decision, by a court with multiple judges Books * ''Decision'' (novel ...

2004/512/EC. VIS is rolled out on a regional basis, starting on 11 October 2011 with

north Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

n countries.Commission Decision of 30 November 2009 determining the first regions for the start of operations of the Visa Information System (VIS)
/ref> New applicants for a VIS Schengen visa have to travel to the nearest EU consulate to give their biometric information (10 fingerprints and a facial image), which is then entered into the system and remains valid for five years. Information is centrally stored in a database in Strasbourg (with a back-up site in Austria) allowing checks to be made at border crossing points that the person holding the biometric visa is the person who applied for it. Two types of searches are possible: verification and identification, both carried out by the separate Biometric Matching System (BMS). Verification consists of a check that the fingerprints scanned at the border crossing point correspond to those associated with the biometric record attached to the visa (duration approx. 2 seconds). Identification consists of comparing the fingerprints taken at the border crossing post with the contents of the entire database (duration up to 10 minutes). As from its entry into operation, the VIS was gradually rolled out at all national consulates, region by region. On 20 November 2015, all Schengen and Schengen-associated states completed the system's rollout at all national consulates. On 29 February 2016, all official EU border crossing points closed the VIS rollout. The VIS is expected to contain some 70 million visa applications and biometric records at full capacity. VIS aims to prevent visa fraud and visa shopping by applicants between

EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and to facilitate checks at external border crossing points and within territory of member states, assisting in the identification of listed persons. The bodies having access to VIS are: Consulates, police authorities from member states and Europol. Transfer of data to third countries or international organizations may take place only in an exceptional case of urgency, with the consent of the member state that entered the data. The VIS also assist the Member States competent authorities for asylum.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Summaries of EU legislation > Justice, freedom and security > Free movement of persons, asylum and immigration > Free movement of persons, asylum and immigration

Council of the European Union > Schengen

Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas (VIS Regulation)
Biometric databases European Union law Government databases of the European Union Visa Information System Visa policies in Europe

See also

References

External links