EU nations approve new visa database system

EU nations have given final approval to a new European visa data system which will store biometric information on 70 million visa-holders who pass through the EU’s borderless travel zone.

The agreement, reached by EU justice and interior ministers, will set up a common European Union database which can be accessed by all 15 EU nations participating in the so-called Schengen borderless travel area.

EU officials said the system will be the largest database of its kind in the world, containing fingerprints and photographs of people applying or holding a Schengen visa.

EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said the new system would “offer a new practical tool both for consulates and border checkpoints,” to stop and apprehend wanted criminals or terrorists at the EU’s external borders.

The new system beefs up security and aims to prevent identity fraud of travel visas issued by EU nations.