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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