Those wishing to visit Europe will be required to provide fingerprints.
What's wrong with the current system? It turns out it does not prevent fraud by migrants from African and Asian countries. They came up with passport rental: for two thousand euros, someone else's document with a multiple-entry Schengen visa is bought and used for entry. To the European eye, the difference between Asian or African faces is hard to distinguish. Then the documents are mailed back home, and the next aspirant enters using them.
Fingerprints, however, will help accurately identify those passing through control. The Schengen area will quickly recoup its costs. About 13 million visas are issued annually. Even taking the minimum cost of 16 euros each, that amounts to 208 million euros per year.
In reality, as Itogi notes, the figure is much larger. At least three million visas are issued to Russians at 35 euros each. Multiply and we get 105 million just from Russian citizens. Unsurprisingly, within two years all 2,500 consulates of Schengen countries will be connected to the VIS.
How will Russia respond? According to Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Andrei Klimov, we do not have the funds for a similar system. And why spend money if Moscow has declared a course toward a visa-free regime with Europe? True, Russia has not yet fulfilled all EU requirements. For example, regarding the universal switch to biometric passports.
Instead, Moscow has put forward proposals such as making visa-free entry for Russians who have round-trip airline tickets when crossing the border. And definitely on a regular flight. Allegedly, illegal migrants would not use the expensive services of reputable airlines.
This proposal is unlikely to pass. After all, a person determined to disappear into the vastness of Schengen may well spend money on an unused return ticket. It is cheaper than the two thousand euros that a foreign passport costs.