What kind of personal data and for what purposes can be kept in the Visa Information System?
The Visa Information System ('VIS') is a system for the exchange of visa dat between Member States. Its purpose is to facilitate the visa application procedure, prevent visa shopping and fraud, facilitate border check as well as identity checks within the territory of the Member States and to contribute to he prevention of threats to the internal security of the Member States. To this end, the VIS provides a central repository of data on all short-stay Schengen visas.
Legal grounds for the creation and operation of the Visa Information System are:
- Regulation (EC) No 767/2008, hereinafter “VIS Regulation”[1]
- Council Decision 2004/512/EC, hereinafter “VIS Decision”[2]
- Council Decision 2008/633/JHA[3]
What kind of personal data and for what purposes can be kept in the Visa Information System?
Pursuant to Article 9 of the VIS Regulation, the visa authority shall enter i.e the following data in the application file:
a) surname, surname at birth (former surname(s)); first name(s); sex; date, place and country of birth;
b) current nationality and nationality at birth;
c) type and number of the travel document, the authority which issued it and the date of issue and of expiry;
d) place and date of the application;
e) type of visa requested;
f) details of the person issuing an invitation and/or liable to pay the applicant's subsistence costs during the stay, being: in the case of a natural person, the surname and first name and address of the person or in the case of a company or other organisation, the name and address of the company/other organisation, surname and first name of the contact person in that company/organisation;
g) main destination and duration of the intended stay;
h) purpose of travel;
i) intended date of arrival and departure;
j) intended border of first entry or transit route;
k) residence;
l) current occupation and employer; for students: name of school;
m) in the case of minors, surname and first name(s) of the applicant's father and mother;
n) a photograph of the applicant
- o) fingerprints of the applicant
Fingerprints are not required from children under the age of 12 or from people who physically cannot provide finger scans. Frequent travellers to the Schengen Area do not have to give new finger scans every time they apply for a new visa. Once finger scans are stored in VIS, they can be re-used for further visa applications over a 5-year period.
Who has the access to information kept in the Visa Information System?
Pursuant to VIS Regulation, different types of authorities can have access to VIS data such as:
- visa authorities which are responsible for examining and for taking decisions on visa applications or for decisions whether to annul, revoke or extend visas, including the central visa authorities and the authorities responsible for issuing visas at the border,
- authorities responsible for carrying out checks at external border crossing points in accordance with the Schengen Borders Code,
- authorities competent for carrying out checks within the territory of the Member States
- competent asylum authorities
With regard to access to the VIS by law enforcement authorities, that besides the access of the Europol, according to Article 3 of Council Decision 2008/633/JHA, Member States shall designate the authorities which are authorized to request access to VIS data for the purposes of the prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and of other serious criminal offences. Member States shall notify in a declaration the list of those authorities and of the chosen central access point(s)to the Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council. The Commission shall publish these declarations in the Official Journal of the European Union.
[1] 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)
(OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 60–81)
[2] Council Decision of 8 June 2004 establishing the Visa Information System (VIS) (OJ L 213, 15.6.2004, p. 5–7)
[3] Council Decision 2008/633/JHA of 23 June 2008 concerning access for consultation of the Visa Information System (VIS) by designated authorities of Member States and by Europol for the purposes of the prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and of other serious criminal offences (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008 p. 129–136)