Participating in the debate held in Brussels on the future of the European entry visa system, Italy presented its new “VISA E-@pplication” online portal to fellow-members of the Schengen area. The project, which became operational on 12 September of this year, falls within the scope of the EU programme to gradually dematerialise entry visas and to develop a common e-visa system among all Member Countries. The “VISA E-@pplication” portal, co-developed by the Directorate General for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies and the Directorate General for the Administration, IT and Communications, was welcomed with great appreciation, especially by the EU Presidency and the EU Commission. On its part, the Italian delegation expressed its willingness to provide expertise and technical support to the Countries intending to put in place similar systems.
The Italian portal can be accessed through the institutional website of the MAECI (http://e-applicationvisa.esteri.it) and through the portal providing information to users called “Il visto per l’Italia” (“A visa for Italy”) (http://vistoperitalia.esteri.it).
Italy’s new visa application procedure offers several advantages, both for foreign and Italian users: quicker data entry in the e-visa system; more complete data entered; less typos in data entry; greater accuracy and security of the data entered. To date, there are very other Schengen Countries that have implemented a similar procedure.