Schengen area: digitalisation of the visa procedure

The European Parliament adopted by 548 votes to 37, with 9 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 as regards the digitisation of the visa procedure.

The European Parliament's position, adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the proposal as follows:

Digital Schengen visa

The amended text stressed that to make the Schengen visa application process smoother and more effective for third-country nationals and Member State authorities, it is necessary to allow Schengen visa applications to be lodged online, thereby making full use of recent legal and technological developments.

The digital visa will be issued in a digital format, as a 2D barcode, and contain the facial image of the visa holder. The 2D barcode should be cryptographically signed by the Country Signing Certificate Authority of the issuing Member State.

Data fields of the digital visa

Members laid down the data fields of the digital visa in an annex replacing the annex to Regulation (EC) No 1683/95. The data fields of the digital visa cover in particular:

- issuing Member State;

- surname, name;

- surname at birth;

- date of birth;

- country and place of birth;

- sex;

- nationality and nationality at birth;

- type and number of travel document;

- issuing authority of the travel document;

- date of issue and of expiry of the travel document;

- the authority that issued the visa, its location and whether that authority issued the visa on behalf of another Member State;

- place and date of the decision to issue the visa;

- type of visa;

- if applicable, information indicating that the visa has been issued with limited territorial validity;

- number of the visa;

- the territory in which the visa holder is entitled to travel;

- the commencement and expiry date of the validity period of the visa;

- the number of entries authorised by the visa in the territory for which the visa is valid;

- the duration of the stay as authorised by the visa.

- Member States may add national entries in the ‘comments’ section in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of information between Member States on short-stay visas, long-stay visas and residence permits.

Implementing acts

The Commission will adopt implementing acts to establish technical specifications for the uniform digital format for visas relating to: (a) technical standards and methods for: (i) encoding the data contained in the digital visa; and (b) the facial image; (c) specifications for generating the printable version of the digital visa.

Start of issuing visas in digital format

Once the implementing acts as regards the technical specifications have been adopted and eu-LISA has declared the successful completion of comprehensive tests, the Commission will adopt a decision, by means of an implementing act, setting the date from which Member States will issue digital visas.

By 1 December 2026 and every year thereafter until the decision of the Commission has been adopted, the Commission will submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the progress with regard to the implementation of this Regulation. That report will contain detailed information about the costs incurred and information on any risks which impact the overall costs.