The Visa Information System (VIS)
Who a visa for the Netherlands requests, the formal name of which is a Visa Short Stay (also called Schengen visa), will have to deal with the Visa Information System. But what exactly is that?
The Visa Information System, simply called VIS, is a registration of visas issued to travel to the European Union and has been operational since 2004.
When applying for a visa, a number of data must be provided, including a photo and the issue of fingerprints (biometric data). This data is stored in the VIS, a European database located in Strasbourg, France, for five years (with a backup in Austria). At full capacity, the VIS is expected to hold 70 million biometrics.
The VIS aims to prevent visa fraud and visa shopping and to assist in the identification of foreign nationals in the Schengen area.
The police, judicial authorities, the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and special investigative services have access to the Dutch copy of the VIS.
Schengen Information System (SIS)
In addition to the VIS, there is another central database related to Schengen, which is the Schengen Information System (SIS). This automated register provides the police and judicial authorities in each of the Schengen countries with permanent insight into the international investigation information of the other Schengen countries.
This system was created to compensate for the loss of border controls at the internal borders in the Schengen area. This required more far-reaching cooperation in the field of police and judicial tasks. The SIS is one of the instruments for this, the legal basis for the system lies in the Schengen Implementation Convention of 1990.
Right of inspection, correction and deletion from VIS
A visa applicant has the right to enter the data provided before an application is made or a decision to cancel, revoke or extend an issued visa is entered into the Visa Information System VIS1 and stored there for a maximum of five years. During that period, they shall be accessible to the visa authorities and the authorities responsible for carrying out visa checks at the external borders and within the Member States, immigration and asylum authorities in the Member States, so that they can verify that the conditions for legal entry and legal residence on the territory of the Member States, to identify persons who do not or no longer fulfill these conditions, to examine an asylum application and to determine who is responsible for this examination. Under certain conditions, the data is also available to the designated authorities of the Member States and to Europol for the purpose of preventing, detecting and investigating terrorist offenses and other serious crime.
The authority of the member state responsible for processing the data is: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate of Consular Affairs and Visa Policy (DCV), Postbus 20061, 2500 EB DEN HAAG.
I am aware that I have the right to require a Member State to inform me of the data concerning me stored in the VIS and which Member State has sent this data to the VIS, and that I have the right to request that incorrect data about me will be corrected and that unlawfully processed data about me will be destroyed. At my express request, the authority examining my application will inform me of how I can exercise my right to control my personal data and have it corrected or destroyed, including the related measures under national law. legislation of the Member State concerned.
A request regarding the protection of personal data may be submitted to the national supervisory authority of that Member State. For the Netherlands this is: Dutch Data Protection Authority, PO Box 93374, 2509 AJ DEN HAAG.
