Digital Schengen Visa: The EU Launches the EU VAP Platform — What Will Change for Applicants

The European Union is moving the procedure for obtaining a Schengen visa online. Instead of submitting a paper application at the consulate of each individual country, applicants will use a single digital platform — the EU Visa Application Platform (EU VAP). The legal basis for this has already been adopted, and the technical system is being developed by the relevant EU agency eu-LISA.

What exactly is changing

The reform is based on Regulation (EU) 2023/2667, the official text of which was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 7 December 2023 (the EU Council gave its final approval on 13 November 2023). There are two key innovations.

1. A single online platform instead of the consulates of individual countries

Through EU VAP, you will be able to submit a Schengen visa application regardless of which country you plan to visit. The platform will itself determine which Member State is responsible for processing your application (for example, by the main destination), suggest the list of documents, allow you to upload them electronically, pay the consular fee online and track the status through a secure personal account.

2. A digital visa instead of a sticker in the passport

The paper visa sticker that is currently affixed to the passport will be replaced by a digital visa — a two-dimensional barcode (2D barcode), cryptographically signed by the certification authority (CSCA) of the country that issued the visa. This format is harder to forge, and it can be presented either in printed form or on an electronic device.

Who will still have to go to the consulate

Online submission does not abolish in-person attendance entirely. According to the regulation, you will need to appear in person at the consulate or visa centre (external service provider), in particular:

• if you are applying for a visa for the first time — to submit biometric data;
• if you have a new travel document (passport);
• if your previously submitted biometric data has expired — as a general rule, fingerprints are re-collected every 59 months;
• and also if the Member State has doubts about the authenticity of the documents.

In all other cases, the procedure can be completed entirely online.

When this will come into operation

The regulation deliberately does not contain an exact date for "switching on" the platform: it will be set by a separate Commission decision — after eu-LISA completes the technical development and testing and confirms the system is ready. Development is ongoing; according to estimates (this is not fixed in the regulation, but follows from eu-LISA's plans and press reports), the roll-out is expected from around 2026, and the platform launch — around 2028. These are preliminary estimates, not an official schedule for applicants.

A 7-year transition period is provided for Member States, counted from the date the platform begins operating. During this time, a country may decide not to join EU VAP for the time being (by notifying the Commission), so the transition of all Schengen countries will take place gradually. If the start does indeed fall around 2028, the full transition may stretch to the mid-2030s. States may join voluntarily before the set deadline.

What this means for Ukrainians

For Ukrainian nationals with a biometric international passport, no visa is required for short trips to the Schengen area — visa-free travel applies (up to 90 days within any 180). Therefore, the digitalisation of the visa procedure primarily concerns:

• those applying for national type D visas and other long-stay permits;
• applicants who do not have a biometric passport and are applying for a short-stay visa;
• family members and those whose trips go beyond the visa-free conditions.

Separately, we recall: the EU VAP digital visa is not the same as the ETIAS system (a travel authorisation for visa-free travellers) or the EES (the Entry/Exit System). These are three different elements of the digital upgrade of the EU borders.

What to do now

Until the platform is officially up and running, visa applications are submitted in the usual way — through consulates and visa centres. Follow announcements from official sources about the EU VAP launch date and the requirements of the consulate of the specific country. To apply, prepare a high-quality document photo in advance that meets ICAO standards and Schengen requirements — it will be needed for both the paper and the future digital procedure.