2024-01-01 17:24:41
France opened this Monday an online portal that will serve as an Olympic consulate. With this new system, some 70,000 visa applications for athletes and visitors from around the world will be processed.
First modification: 01/01/2024 – 16:24
1 min
This January 1, France enabled an online “consulate” dedicated specifically to next summer’s Olympic Games. The objective of the portal is to prevent applications from being lost in an avalanche of files at the visa subdirectorate in Nantes, where they are usually processed.
The Ministry of the Interior explained that this device will ensure the issuance of visas “within a period compatible with the correct organization of the Games.”
The priority is that the 15,000 international athletes and delegations can obtain safe passage in time.
Specifically, requests will be made through the platform France-Visas, so there will no longer be a need to go to French consulates or embassies abroad to obtain a visa.
The platform collects online biometric data of applicants from across the network of consulates and service providers.
It is something unprecedented for France, which will also be able to test a completely digital form of visas. They will no longer be placed in the passport, but will be integrated directly into the travelers’ accreditation card.
The objective is to reinforce the security of documents in case of loss, theft or fraudulent use of the passport.
France is thus testing a European initiative adopted by Parliament last October and which aims to digitize the Schengen vignette from 2025. This will be first voluntary and then mandatory from 2030.
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