science

Visa Information System

Visa Information System is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Visa Information System rather than just read about it. In short: The European Union Visa Information System (VIS) is a database containing information, including biometrics, on visa applications by Third Country Nationals requiring a visa to enter the Schengen area. The system was established in June 2004 by the Council of the European Union decision 2004/512/EC.

Key takeaways

Visa Information System belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Visa Information System to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Visa Information System from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The European Union Visa Information System (VIS) is a database containing information, including biometrics, on visa applications by Third Country Nationals requiring a visa to enter the Schengen area. The system was established in June 2004 by the Council of the European Union decision 2004/512/EC. VIS is rolled out on a regional basis, starting on 11 October 2011 with North African countries.

Purpose VIS aims to prevent visa fraud and visa shopping by applicants between EU member states and to facilitate checks at external border crossing points and within territory of member states, assisting in the identification of listed persons. The bodies having access to VIS are: Consulates, police authorities from member states and Europol. Transfer of data to third countries or international organizations may take place only in an exceptional case of urgency, with the consent of the member state that entered the data. The VIS also assist the Member States competent authorities for asylum.

Procedure New applicants for a VIS Schengen visa have to travel to the nearest EU consulate or visa application center to give their biometric information (10 fingerprints and a facial image), which is then entered into the system and remains valid for five years. Information is centrally stored in a database in Strasbourg (with a back-up site in Austria) allowing checks to be made at border crossing points that the person holding the biometric visa is the person who applied for it.

Identification Two types of searches are possible: verification and identification, both carried out by the separate Biometric Matching System (BMS). Verification consists of a check that the fingerprints scanned at the border crossing point correspond to those associated with the biometric record attached to the visa (duration approx. 2 seconds). Identification consists of comparing the fingerprints taken at the border crossing post with the contents of the entire database (duration up to 10 minutes).

Availability As from its entry into operation, the VIS was gradually rolled out at all national consulates, region by region. On 20 November 2015, all Schengen and Schengen-associated states completed the system's rollout at all national consulates. On 29 February 2016, all official EU border crossing points closed the VIS rollout. The VIS is expected to contain some 70 million visa applications and biometric records at full capacity.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Visa Information System

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Visa Information System claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Visa Information System before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Visa Information System ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Visa Information System

In research: Visa Information System appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Visa Information System in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Visa Information System is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biometric databases, European Union law, Government databases of the European Union, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Visa Information System outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Visa Information System” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Visa Information System in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Visa Information System means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Visa Information System out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Visa Information System in simple terms?

Why does Visa Information System matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Visa Information System?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Visa Information System.