From today, January 1, 2024, France inaugurates its "Olympic Consulate to centralize visa applications from members of the Olympic family ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The aim of this initiative without a physical entity is to prevent applications from Olympic delegations or international athletes from getting lost in the flow of files from already overwhelmed prefectures and to ensure rapid processing.
This consulate will be responsible for directly processing short-stay visa applications submitted by members of the "Olympic Family" for their participation in the Games.
Some 15,000 athletes are expected to be present in France, and the authorities estimate that nearly 70,000 visa applications will be examined as of January 1, 2024 at Nanteswhere the visa department is located.
The France-Visas system to facilitate the process
Visa applications will go through the France-VisasThis system will enable the collection of applicants' biometric data from consulates and service providers. The system will also enable France to test digital visas for the first time, which will be integrated directly into the accreditation card of Olympic family members, according to the Direction Générale des Etrangers en France.
From January 1, France will set up an "Olympic consulate" to centralize all visa applications submitted by members of the "Olympic family" for the Paris Olympics, the French government announced.#AFP Ministry of the Interior pic.twitter.com/LTaVN68gf8
- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) September 21, 2023
A step towards the digital Schengen visa
France's experience with digital visas for the Olympic Games is crucial, as it will put a European initiative to the test. adopted by Parliament last October. The aim is to digitizing Schengen stickers from 2025 and compulsory by 2030, reducing the significant gap with the rest of the world.
In fact, Europe lags significantly behind other countries such as the United States.Australia or theIndia. In the long term, this discrepancy could have serious economic consequences for the EU's GDP, since the tourism sector directly contributes 10% of its revenues.
The costs and benefits of this transition
- The creation of the European platform is estimated at between 33 and 41 million euros, plus annual maintenance costs of around 11 million euros.
- In return, the savings generated by this transformation would be substantial: the EU, which issues around 15 million Schengen stickers a year, could save 510 million euros over the period 2025-2029.
- The switch to digital visas should also help combat illegal immigration networks and the counterfeiting and theft of visa stickers, since visas will be issued in the form of cryptographically signed QR codes.
If this experiment proves successful, it could very well encourage other EU member countries to accelerate their transition to digital visas, and thus boost the bloc's overall competitiveness in terms of tourism and welcoming international travelers. Indeed, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are already seen as a giant laboratory for innovation in many ways.
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