The European Commission has announced it will be converting to a new digital Schengen visa application platform (EU VAP), which will be rolled out over the next seven years. The amendments to the visa regulations mean travellers to the Schengen area will be able to apply for their visa online. 

Schengen visas permit travellers to enter and move freely within the Schengen Area, which comprises 27 European countries, for short stays of up to 90 days within a 180-day period, primarily for tourism or business purposes.

For stays longer than 90 days, such as for studying, working or living in a Schengen country, foreigners must apply for a national visa specific to that country, not a Schengen visa.

Applying for a Schengen visa will become easier and the visa will be more secure and less vulnerable to theft and fraud, the commission said. 

The platform is expected to start operating in 2028.

The digital visa will replace the current sticker with a cryptographically signed barcode from the country signing certificate authority of the issuing member state and carry the facial image of the visa holder. It will also be printable.

The EU VAP, which will have a domain ending in “Europe.eu”, like all official EU websites, will bring to an end the current and laborious in-person application procedure for some as it will allow member states to choose whether they want to opt out of using the platform, or continue issuing visas as before.

All travellers, regardless of their origin or their country of destination, will be able to apply for a Schengen visa through this platform, which will also allow third parties, authorised by the applicant or legally empowered, to lodge an application on behalf of an applicant, provided that the identity of that third party is included on the application form.

Applicants will have to present themselves to the embassy on only specific occasions, such as when they apply for a Schengen visa for the first time or they have a new passport, Schengen Visa News reports.

All visa fees will be paid through an EU VAP-linked gateway, which transfers payments directly to the relevant member state. If electronic payment isn’t possible, consulates or authorised service providers will collect the visa fee.

The latest available statistics from the European Commission’s migration and home affairs office indicate that in 2022 the consulates of the EU- and Schengen-associated countries received more than 7.5 million applications for short-stay visas, which is a 258% increase from 2021 (2.9 million) but still lower than the pre-Covid number in 2019 (17 million). Worldwide, 17.9% of all visa applications were refused – up from 13.4% in 2021. 

Most of the applications came from Turkey, Russia, India, Morocco and Algeria. DM