Direzione Generale per gli Italiani all Estero e le

Direzione Generale per gli Italiani all’Estero e le Politiche Migratorie - Centro Visti ISTAT June 2016 The Italian entry visas system; its database and its possible uses Alberto Colella alberto. colella@esteri. it Visa Unit

I will talk about: • Who we are and what we do • The Italian visa policy • The legal limits of exchanging data on visa applications • Exchange of data and information for a better understanding and management of international migrations

Entry visas: the Italian system • The rules are the same: the EU regulations; we play on equal terms. . . • . . . for a growing service. . . • . . . obtained at constant or reduced resources. . . • . . . that has a favorable impact to the Treasury (and the country) . . . • . . . and that is being done quickly. . .

Entry visas: the Italian system • . . . also thanks to the IT systems. . . which generates few complaints. . . • . . . and that we try to improve. . . • … this is an instrument for competitiveness and growth • …infine, the figures. We collect a lot of data!

PERIPHERAL SYSTEMS (LVIS) o Opening of applications for visa request; o Capturing biometric and personal data information; o Issuing / refusal of visas; o Storing data of visa applications; o Temporary storage (two months) of fingerprints data. NATIONAL CENTRAL SYSTEM (NVIS - MFA) o Acquisition of visa applications from peripheral systems; o Data transmission to the European database; o Checks with the Ministry of Interior (National Authorities, archive of not eligible people for visa issuing, etc. . . ); o Consultations with Schengen area partners; o Issuing authorization toward diplomatic and consular offices (Peripheral Systems); o Storage of visa applications without fingerprints data. CENTRAL EUROPEAN SYSTEM (CVIS) o Recording and storage of visa applications; o Storage of fingerprints data for a term of five years.

Visas issued by Italy in the 10 largest Consulates in 2015

Some figures… • • 2, 043, 162 visas issued by Italy in 2015 13 M visas issued by Schengen countries in 2015 160 Italian Consulates issuing visas 104 M euro – consular fees 445, 532 visas issued in Moscow in 2015 400 full time employees 1: visa issued in Tallinn and Riga 5, 2%: refusal rate

Entry and use of data by visa authorities • Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of 9 July 2008 concerning the VIS and the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas and Council Decision 2008/633/JHA of 23 June 2008 concerning access for consultation of the VIS by designated authorities of Member States • The Decree of the MFA and of the Ministry of Interior of 6 October 2011: the authorized personnel of the MFA accesses to the VIS for the purposes of issuing visas, including for the decision whether to annul, revoke or extend the visa for the entry in the Schengen area. The Ministry of Interior is the authority authorized to access VIS data for the purposes of the prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and of other serious criminal offences.

Retention period for data storage Following Article 23 of Regulation 767/2008, an automated system is in place for the deletion of the VIS files • on the expiry date of the visa (5 years), if a visa has been issued, • on the new expiry date of the visa, if a visa has been extended, • on the date of the creation of the application file in the VIS, if the application has been withdrawn, closed or discontinued, • on the date of the decision of the visa authority if a visa has been refused, annulled, shortened or revoked.

Possible uses NOW - We use data on visas for statistical purposes (Annuario statistico – trasparency) and as a tool for detecting cases of visa misuse or even corruption (law enforcement) Currently there is no exchange of data between our database and the databases of the Ministry of Interior PROPOSED: Exchange of information as a tool for policy decision, both at national and EU level - Cross checking on nationalities of applicants - Comparison of data on the different entry channels (legal or illegal), with the aim of increasing legal channels of immigration - Compare entry visa figures with residence permits - Overstayers (Smart Borders) - Exchange of information at EU level? Currently we only compare gross figures

Paesi soggetti a visto Reg. (CE) 539/2001 Paesi Paesi dell’UE Schengen esenti dal visto per corto soggiorno soggetti all’obbligo di visto soggetti all’obbligo di VTA

Statistiche sui visti Anno Totale Visti Rilasciati Var % Visti Uniformi VSU Nazionali VTL 2000 1. 008. 971 21% 808. 141 163. 714 37. 116 2001 947. 071 -6% 723. 334 186. 165 37. 572 2002 853. 414 -10% 642. 731 155. 002 55. 681 2003 874 3% 648. 539 178. 532 47. 803 2004 982. 499 12% 737. 893 195. 825 48. 781 2005 1. 076. 664 10% 810. 996 213. 984 51. 684 2006 1. 198. 167 11% 947. 916 194. 012 56. 239 2007 1. 519. 816 27% 1. 130. 265 363. 277 26. 274 2008 1. 563. 567 3% 1. 201. 354 318. 872 43. 341 2009 1. 401. 704 -10% 1. 051. 883 301. 561 48. 260 2010 1. 543. 408 10% 1. 274. 988 218. 318 50. 102 2011 1. 714. 661 11% 1. 446. 850 231. 750 36. 061 2012 1. 872. 394 9% 1. 634. 656 198. 104 39. 634 2013 2. 125. 490 13, 5% 1. 917. 285 169. 055 39. 150 2014 2. 216. 316 4, 2% 2. 052. 457 141. 805 22. 054 2015 2. 043. 162 -7, 81% 1. 901. 804 127. 659 13. 699

Visa statistics – main Schengen countries

distribuzione geografica visti rilasciati (anno 2015) Area 2014 2015 Europa 1. 175. 244 828. 606 Asia e Oceania 598. 417 776. 506 Mediterraneo e Medio Oriente 273. 070 258. 669 Nord e Sud America 80. 833 83. 045 Africa sub-sahariana 88. 765 96. 342

principali paesi per il rilascio di visti (anno 2014) Paese 2014 2015 Var. Russia 720. 508 492. 739 -31, 6% Cina 346. 739 540. 883 +56% Turchia 140. 338 138. 077 -1, 6% India 80. 748 103. 343 +27, 9%

Principali tipologie di visti rilasciati 2012 2013 2014 2015 variazione percentuale 2014 -2015 1. 675. 19 1. 802. 25 1. 642. 13 6 6 5 - 8, 8 turismo 1. 364. 147 affari 202. 779 200. 927 186. 452 185. 413 -0, 55 lavoro 62. 497 25. 683 23. 588 19. 741 -16, 3 motivi familiari 81. 322 76. 174 57. 899 46. 559 -19, 5 studio 49. 830 52. 489 51. 878 52. 199 0, 6

Visti rilasciati nel 2014 per finalità 17

Grazie !