Also in 2015, Italy was confirmed to be the second Schengen Country in terms of the visa applications processed and the visas effectively issued with over two million visas issued last year, which generated 104 million euros in consular fees.
Despite a drop in visa applications worldwide, mainly due to the economic crisis that hit global markets, Italy succeeded in limiting the negative effects of this downward trend. The structural drop in number of visas was mostly compensated by a considerable rise in applications in China (a total of 553,993 applications, up 38.6% from 2014). Italy is the number one Country in China in terms of visa applications processed.
Italy’s good performance was also based on the contribution of EXPO 2015, which raised great interest in a large number of countries and guaranteed a continuous flow of visitors.
Despite the large number of visa applications processed, officials of the Italian Foreign Ministry highlighted the strengthening of procedures to combat illegal immigration and to protect national security. On the other hand, fast selective procedures are in place for the screening of applications from tourists, businessmen and women, students and regular workers, also thanks to the indications contained in the “Visa for Italy” portal (http://vistoperitalia.esteri.it/), which has revealed to be an excellent channel through which to provide information, recording close to one million accesses.
