BY IVAN ZELIĆ Visa Information System EU Migration Law and Policy Jean Monnet Modul prof. dr. sc. Iris Goldner Lang
Basic terms Schengen Area Schengen Information System Common Visa Policy Schengen Visa (short stay visa) Visits exceeding that period? Subject to national procedures
Regulation 539/2001
Common Visa policy Aims achieving full visa reciprocity Reciprocity mechanism: EU State concered -> Commission Commision - > 3rd Country authorities Possible retaliatory measures
Visa Information System Database containing information on visa applications by TCN's requiring a visa to enter the Schengen area Established in June 2004 by Council Decision 2004/512/EC Transitional period Agency for large-scale IT systems started operations on December 1, 2012
Goals of the VIS Facilitating checks and the issuance of visas Fighting abuses Protecting travellers Helping with asylum applications Enhacing security
VIS in practice Biometric data recorded in central database 10 Fingerprints Facial image (digital photography) Frequent travellers Data remains valid for 5 years
Searching the VIS Verification Identification Biometric Matching System (BMS) Information search engine 70 million people fingerprints; request per day
Data protection 5 year retention period When from? expiry date of the issued visa date a negative decision is taken date a decision to modify an issued visa is taken National supervision European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
Who can access VIS Competent visa authorities Authorities responsible for border checks Asylum authorities only to determine the State responsible for examination of an asylum application Specific cases National authorities Europol
Thank you! Feel free to ask questions Merry Christmas!