Schengen visas to go fully digital; expect these changes

As per a recent announcement made by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, the EU has decided to digitalise the Schengen visa procedure.

What does this mean? With this new development, the Schengen visa application process will get a lot smoother than before. This will do away with all the lengthy and complicated paperwork.

The digital process will also do away with the need for the visa stickers, thus reducing chances for fraudulent activities, saving the legitimate applicants time and money.

Currently, there are 27 Schengen countries – Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

If reports are to go by, as per the new rules, all applicants applying for Schengen visa will be able to apply from one single platform. All they’ll be required to do is to upload electronic copies of their travel documents along with the other supporting documents, followed by the payment of the visa fees. Sounds like a seamless visa application process.

Visa applicants will have their own secure account on the platform where they can get all necessary information about the status of their application in the form of updates.

Simply put, the portal will guide the applicants through the entire process and even notify the applicants regarding appointments for biometrics.

In case of multiple Schengen state visits, the portal will automatically figure out which Schengen state will be responsible for examining the visa application. The process will be a lot less confusing for the applicants.