German Consulate’s visa info system likely in Nov

German Consulate is gearing up to launch the Visa Information System (VIS) in India from November 2.

With this launch, ‘Roll Out Region 20’, which has already been initiated by European countries would be introduced in India, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries, a senior diplomat said.

One-time finger print Martin Rojek, Consular Attache, Visa Section, Consulate General of Germany — Chennai, said once the finger print of the visa applicant is taken, there would not be any necessity to do it again when the applicant applies for Schengen Visa, required to travel to any European country.

“The same can be accessed through the German database. It would be stored for 59 months for issue of visa to businessmen, trade and tourists,” the Consulate General explained.

Martin was in the city for an interaction with the industrialists here and as part of the German-Indian Round Table (GIRT) meet at The Residency here last night.

GIRT centres, which help the local industry connect with the German counterparts for mutal business development, are located at New Delhi, Pune and Coimbatore.

Asked if there is any proposal to start a finger print centre in Coimbatore, Martin said, “we will consider once the proposition becomes viable.”

The Consulate meanwhile is expecting the issuance of visas from Chennai to cross 20,000 this year, against 18000 in 2014.