Yesterday the French Consulate-General of Guangzhou announced that from October 12 onward, all Schengen visa applicants will be required to provide biometric data.
The data required for visa issuance comes in the form of 10 fingerprints and a digital photograph. According to a press release the procedure is simple and takes “only a few minutes.”
If you are unfamiliar with the Schengen visa, it’s probably because you’re not Chinese. The visa is essential to Chinese citizens interested in visiting any of the 26 European countries that are part of the agreement – including France and Germany (among 24 others).
According to the media release the data provided in the Schengen application form will be stored in the VIS database for five years. Frequent travellers will only have to complete the procedure once within this period, as the fingerprints will be copied from the previous application file.
The new regulations are intended to promote lawful use of visas issued and cope with increased demand for Schengen visas. According to French officials the number of Chinese people getting visas for France increased by 50 percent compared to last year. To deal with the increased demand, France will be opening nine biometric visa centers in nine Chinese cities in the coming months, including Shenzhen and Fuzhou.
Exemptions from the fingerprinting requirement are provided only to children under the age of 12 and people without fingers (because, you know, it’s hard to give fingerprints without fingers…).
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