Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the European Commission today concluded their negotiations on modernising the Visa Information System (VIS). The most important new feature is that information on visas for longer-term stays and on national residence permits issued by the EU member states will be stored in the VIS and accessible throughout the EU.

Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer said, "The successful conclusion of our trilogue on the Visa Information System shows that Europe is capable of action on migration issues. If we utilise the digital possibilities for rapid and efficient data-sharing and make sure our authorities are closely connected to each other, we can stop document forgery and fraud. Information on visas and residence permits must be available at every border crossing point, no matter how small. The new Visa Information System is a milestone on the way to even better protection for the EU’s external borders and more effective EU return policy."

The updated Visa Information System will be linked to important EU databases including the Schengen Information System and the planned Entry/Exit System (EES), improving connections across data silos within Europe and giving migration and security authorities easier access to important information. This represents a breakthrough for the interoperability of European databases and will strengthen connections between the authorities at European and national level.

Since 2011, the Visa Information System has been one of the largest EU databases; it connects the officers responsible for protecting the EU’s external borders with the consulates of the EU member states all over the world. This database provides the visa-issuing authorities with the most important information on visa applicants, making it possible to detect those persons who could be a security threat. It also helps visa, border, asylum and migration authorities as well as the police to determine whether nationals of non-EU countries have the right to cross the border and stay in the Schengen area. The responsible authorities already use the biographical and biometric information stored in this database to systematically check whether travellers entering the Schengen area for shorter stays (up to 90 days within a 180-day period), for example tourists and business travellers, were properly issued a Schengen visa. By checking these data, it is possible to detect forged, falsified and stolen visas much more reliably. In future, such checks will also be carried out for holders of national residence permits and visas for longer-term stays.

The Visa Information System will also be available for checks by police in the member states, and copies of visa applicants’ travel documents will also be stored in the database. This will make it easier to identify those persons who do not have a right to remain in the EU and who have no identification documents, and to return them to their country of origin. Attempts to return such persons often fail due to their lack of passports or other identification indicating their country of origin, which means that that country is not willing to readmit them. In many cases, these documents were available when the persons in question applied for a visa.