FILLING IN THE VISA STICKER
ANNEX VII
FILLING IN THE VISA STICKER
1. Mandatory entries section
1.1. "VALID FOR" heading:
This heading indicates the territory in which the visa holder is entitled to travel.
This heading may be completed in one of the following ways only:
(a) Schengen States;
(b) Schengen State or Schengen States to whose territory the validity of the visa is limited (in this case the following abbreviations are used):
BE BELGIUM
CZ CZECH REPUBLIC
DK DENMARK
DE GERMANY
EE ESTONIA
GR GREECE
ES SPAIN
FR FRANCE
IT ITALY
LV LATVIA
LT LITHUANIA
LU LUXEMBOURG
HU HUNGARY
MT MALTA
NL NETHERLANDS
AT AUSTRIA
PL POLAND
PT PORTUGAL
SI SLOVENIA
SK SLOVAKIA
FI FINLAND
SE SWEDEN
IS ICELAND
NO NORWAY
CH SWITZERLAND
1.2. When the sticker is used to issue a uniform visa this heading is filled in using the words "Schengen States", in the language of the issuing Member State.
1.3. When the sticker is used to issue a visa with limited territorial validity pursuant to Article 25(1) of this Regulation this heading is filled in with the name(s) of the Member State(s) to which the visa holder's stay is limited, in the language of the issuing Member State.
1.4. When the sticker is used to issue a visa with limited territorial validity pursuant to Article 25(3) of this Regulation, the following options for the codes to be entered may be used:
(a) entry of the codes for the Member States concerned;
(b) entry of the words "Schengen States", followed in brackets by the minus sign and the codes of the Member States for whose territory the visa is not valid;
(c) in case the "valid for" field is not sufficient for entering all codes for the Member States (not) recognising the travel document concerned the font size of the letters used is reduced.
2. "FROM ... TO" heading:
This heading indicates the period of the visa holder's stay as authorised by the visa.
The date from which the visa holder may enter the territory for which the visa is valid is written as below, following the word "FROM":
- the day is written using two digits, the first of which is a zero if the day in question is a single digit,
- horizontal dash,
- the month is written using two digits, the first of which is a zero if the month in question is a single digit,
- horizontal dash,
- the year is written using two digits, which correspond with the last two digits of the year.
For example: 05-12-07 = 5 December 2007.
The date of the last day of the period of the visa holder's authorised stay is entered after the word "TO" and is written in the same way as the first date. The visa holder must have left the territory for which the visa is valid by midnight on that date.
3. "NUMBER OF ENTRIES" heading:
This heading shows the number of times the visa holder may enter the territory for which the visa is valid, i.e. it refers to the number of periods of stay which may be spread over the entire period of validity, see 4.
The number of entries may be one, two or more. This number is written to the right-hand side of the preprinted part, using "01", "02" or the abbreviation "MULT", where the visa authorises more than two entries.
When a multiple airport transit visa is issued pursuant to Article 26(3) of this Regulation, the visa's validity is calculated as follows: first date of departure plus six months.
The visa is no longer valid when the total number of exits made by the visa holder equals the number of authorised entries, even if the visa holder has not used up the number of days authorised by the visa.
4. "DURATION OF VISIT ... DAYS" heading:
This heading indicates the number of days during which the visa holder may stay in the territory for which the visa is valid. This stay may be continuous or, depending on the number of days authorised, spread over several periods between the dates mentioned under 2, bearing in mind the number of entries authorised under 3.
The number of days authorised is written in the blank space between "DURATION OF VISIT" and "DAYS", in the form of two digits, the first of which is a zero if the number of days is less than 10.
The maximum number of days that may be entered under this heading is 90.
When a visa is valid for more than six months, the duration of stays is 90 days in every six-month period.
5. "ISSUED IN ... ON ..." heading:
This heading gives the name of the location where the issuing authority is situated. The date of issue is indicated after "ON".
The date of issue is written in the same way as the date referred to in 2.
6. "PASSPORT NUMBER" heading:
This heading indicates the number of the travel document to which the visa sticker is affixed.
In case the person to whom the visa is issued is included in the passport of the spouse, parental authority or legal guardian, the number of the travel document of that person is indicated.
When the applicant's travel document is not recognised by the issuing Member State, the uniform format for the separate sheet for affixing visas is used for affixing the visa.
The number to be entered under this heading, if the visa sticker is affixed to the separate sheet, is not the passport number but the same typographical number as appears on the form, made up of six digits.
7. TYPE OF VISA" heading:
In order to facilitate matters for the control authorities, this heading specifies the type of visa using the letters A, C and D as follows:
A: airport transit visa (as defined in Article 2(5) of this Regulation)
C: visa (as defined in Article 2(2) of this Regulation)
D: long-stay visa
8. "SURNAME AND FIRST NAME" heading:
The first word in the "surname" box followed by the first word in the "first name" box of the visa holder's travel document is written in that order. The issuing authority verifies that the name and first name which appear in the travel document and which are to be entered under this heading and in the section to be electronically scanned are the same as those appearing in the visa application. If the number of characters of the surname and first name exceeds the number of spaces available, the excess characters are replaced by a dot (.).
9. (a) Mandatory entries to be added in the "COMMENTS" section
- in the case of a visa issued on behalf of another Member State pursuant to Article 8, the following mention is added: "R/[Code of represented Member State]",
- in the case of a visa issued for the purpose of transit, the following mention is added: "TRANSIT";
(b) National entries in "COMMENTS" section
This section also contains the comments in the language of the issuing Member State relating to national provisions. However, such comments shall not duplicate the mandatory comments referred to in point 1;
(c) Section for the photograph
The visa holder's photograph, in colour, shall be integrated in the space reserved for that purpose.
The following rules shall be observed with respect to the photograph to be integrated into the visa sticker.
The size of the head from chin to crown shall be between 70 % and 80 % of the vertical dimension of the surface of the photograph.
The minimum resolution requirements shall be:
- 300 pixels per inch (ppi), uncompressed, for scanning,
- 720 dots per inch (dpi) for colour printing of photos.
10. Machine-readable zone
This section is made up of two lines of 36 characters (OCR B-10 cpi).
First line: 36 characters (mandatory)
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Positions | Number of | Heading | Specifications
| characters | contents |
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
1-2 | 2 |Type of |First character: V
| |document |Second character: code
| | |indicating type of visa
| | |(A, C or D)
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
3-5 | 3 |Issuing State |ICAO alphabetic code 3-character:
| | |BEL, CHE, CZE, DNK, D<<, EST,
| | |GRC, ESP, FRA, ITA, LVA, LTU,
| | |LUX, HUN, MLT, NLD, AUT, POL,
| | |PRT, SVN, SVK, FIN, SWE, ISL,
| | |NOR
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
6-36 | 31 |Surname and |The surname should be separated
| |first name |from the first names by 2
| | |symbols (<<); individual
| | |components of the name should be
| | |separated by one symbol (<);
| | |spaces which are not needed
| | |should be filled in with one
| | |symbol (<)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second line: 36 characters (mandatory)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Positions |Number of | Heading | Specifications
|characters | contents |
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
1 | 9 |Visa number |This is the number printed in
| | |the top right-hand corner of the
| | |sticker
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
10 | 1 |Control |This character is the result of
| |character |a complex calculation, based on
| | |the previous area according to
| | |an algorithm defined by the ICAO
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
11 | 3 |Applicant's |Alphabetic coding according to
| |nationality |ICAO 3-character codes
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
14 | 6 |Date of birth |The order followed is YYMMDD
| | |where:
| | |YY = year (mandatory)
| | |MM = month or << if unknown
| | |DD = day or << if unknown
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
20 | 1 |Control |This character is the result of
| |character |a complex calculation, based on
| | |the previous area according to
| | |an algorithm defined by the ICAO
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
21 | 1 |Sex |F = Female,
| | |M = Male,
| | |< = Not specified
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
22 | 6 |Date on which |The order followed is YYMMDD
| |the visa's |without a filler
| |validity ends |
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
28 | 1 |Control |This character is the result of
| |character |a complex calculation, based on
| | |the previous area according to
| | |an algorithm defined by the ICAO
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
29 | 1 |Territorial |(a) For LTV visas, insert the
| |validity |letter T
| | |(b) For uniform visas insert the
| | |filler <
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
30 | 1 |Number of |1, 2 or M
| |entries |
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
31 | 2 |Duration of |(a) Short stay: number of days
| |stay |should be inserted in the visual
| | |reading area
| | |(b) Long stay: <<
-----------+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------
33 | 4 |Start of |The structure is MMDD without
| |validity |any filler.
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