VIS start of operations in Serbia: collection of fingerprints for Schengen VISAS

The Schengen Visa Information System VIS will start being operative in the Western Balkans and Turkey, as from 25 September 2014.

Visa applicants lodging their applications with a Schengen consulate located in Serbia will be required to provide fingerprints for their first application.

Serbian nationals benefit from the Schengen visa waiver upon the conditions set in Regulation 1244/2009 and therefore are not subject to the VIS. Only those Serbian nationals who are not exempted from the Schengen visa requirement (holders of biometric passport issued by the Coordination Directorate) will be subject to the VIS procedure.

Applicants of other nationalities subject to the Schengen visa requirement will be required to provide their fingerprints.

More information on the VIS is available at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/visa-information-system/index_en.htm

The list of countries subject to the Schengen visa regime is available in Regulation No 539/2001 and its successive amendments at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2001R0539:20110111:EN:PDF

General information on Schengen, borders and visas is available at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/index_en.htm

What is the VIS?

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