France has become the first EU country to digitally process its Schengen visa applications in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
Since January 1, France’s new Olympic Consulate system has begun processing 70 000 international visa applications for the estimated 15 000 athletes, 9 000 journalists and other delegation members through the government website, France-Visas, reports etias.com.
The dedicated consulate is not a physical location but a digital branch that will identify Olympic visa applications submitted on the France-Visas website.
It is France’s first large-scale experiment with e-visas, which the European Union hopes to make standard by 2030, says rfi.fr.
It was developed by French authorities to prevent the Olympic applications from getting lost amid France’s high volume of files currently being processed abroad, reports schengenvisainfo.com.
“It (the Olympic Consulate) is indeed necessary to guarantee the issuance of visas within timeframes compatible with the successful organisation of the Games,” said France’s Ministry of the Interior.
Applications for the digital visas are submitted online and paid for via the secure website, which offers online consultations, if applicable.
The digital visas will be directly integrated into visitors’ Olympic accreditation cards instead of presented as physical visa stamps.
