Schengen Countries to Start Using New Schengen Visa Sticker by December


Maldives
PUBLISHED November 29, 2019

All travelers granted with a Schengen visa to any of the Member Countries after December 21, will get a different sticker to those that most Schengen countries currently affix to the passports of third-country nationals in need of short-term visas to the European borderless territory.

After the Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 (2) laid down a uniform format for visas asserting that the common design for the visa sticker is considered to be compromised in view of serious incidents of counterfeiting and fraud.  The current design of the visa sticker has been in circulation for 20 years now.

"A new common design should, therefore, be established with more modern security features to render the visa sticker more secure and to prevent forgery," the Council had asserted at the time.

On November 11, Finland moved on to become the first Schengen member to start granting visa applicants with visa stickers of the new designs.

According to a press release of VFS Global, outsourcing and technology services company to which the Finnish government has outsourced visa admission in several world countries, by December 21 this year, all Schengen members must start using the new stickers.

"All Finnish missions abroad and organizations issuing visas, including the Border Guard, Finnish Customs and the Police, started to use the new EU visa sticker on 11 November 2019. Regulation (EU) 2017/1370, amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 on a uniform format for visas, was adopted on 04 July 2017. All Member States must start using the new visa sticker by 21 December 2019," the VFS press release reads.

It further explains that the introduction of the new visa sticker does not require any measures from visa applicants, while adding that visas stickers issued before November 11, will be valid for the period indicated on them.

The EU has undertaken several new steps in making visa applications for short term stays easier for applicants and member countries, as well as safer and more secure.

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