Seven consulates from different countries are participating in the experiment: Annaba (Algeria), Bamako (Mali), Geneva (Switzerland), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Minsk (Belarus), San Francisco (USA), and Shanghai (China). The fundamental difference of the new visa is that it will contain a chip with fingerprints of ten fingers, a digital photograph, all data on visa validity periods, and information about the consulate that issued it.
The seven selected consulates issue 10% of the 2.5 million French visas issued worldwide. Biometric visas will be registered at most border points, including four French international airports, Geneva airport (French exit), border crossings on the Swiss-French border, and the seaport in Marseille. All information will go into a central database, which will help track illegal immigrants and other lawbreakers. Taking biometric data will take only a few seconds.
Despite protests from the National Commission for Information and Freedoms, the French plan to store all incoming information for some time, even in the event of a visa refusal. So, when applying for a short-term visa, the data will remain in the database for two years. For a long-term visa and those refused, this period is five years. The French experiment has a scheme similar to the Visa Information System (VIS) proposed in Europe. The data obtained by the French will be used to refine and improve other European visas.
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