Visabio
Visabio is the system the French government uses to track applicants to its national visa system. It stores biometric data including fingerprints and photographs.[1] Visabio is connected to the European Visa Information System (VIS),[2] though Visabio has also been described as "the French segment of VIS."[3] Customs officers in France use Visabio.[4]
Data volume
In 2007, it was estimated that the data of two million people would be added to the system each year, as all applications for a French visa would be entered into the system. Only children younger than 6 months would be exempted.[5]
Efficacy of Visabio
The perpetrator of the 2017 Paris machete attack was identified after a Visabio search,[6] stated François Molins, the chief prosecutor of Paris.[7][8]
Legal Basis
The program arises from French national law Nr. 2003-1119 of 26 November 2003, also called "Sarkozy Law I," but officially entitled law of «Control of immigration, residence of foreigners in France, and nationality.»[9]
References
- "Projet de loi de finances pour 2011 : Sécurité - Immigration, asile et intégration". Sénat (in French). The Senate of France. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
The VISABIO program, resulting from Act No. 2003-1119 of 26 November 2003 on the control of immigration, residence of foreigners in France and nationality, succeeds the BIODEV program. It consists of a computerized processing of biometric personal data (digitized photograph and fingerprint of the 10 fingers) of the visa applicants. It is represented by a security sticker identical to that used for non-biometric visas. The data is stored for five years in the central database
- "Projet de loi de finances pour 2011 : Sécurité - Immigration, asile et intégration". Sénat (in French). The Senate of France. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
The VISABIO national system has been adapted to connect to the European Visa Information System (VIS). The central system of the VIS is being qualified by the European Commission. Its delivery date, originally scheduled for December 2010, has been postponed until the fall of 2011. VIS is the world's largest biometric database, as it is expected to eventually contain identifiers of some 100 million, people.
- Jean Marc Manach (17 October 2007). "Milipol : la sécurité décomplexée". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 7 February 2017.
Visabio is the French segment of the Visa Information System (VIS), the world's largest biometric database, which aims to centralize the photographs and fingerprints of all ten fingers of all visa applicants Of the European Union and ultimately the identifiers of some 100 million people.
- "Customs officer, a profession that evolves with society". The Maville of Brest (in French). Ouest France. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
The customs officers are equipped with Visabio, a system of control of biometric passports with document readers. Migration controls have priority over all others.
- "Automated biometric processing of foreigners is authorized". Europe1 (in French). 3 November 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
Each year more than 2 million foreigners subject to the visa requirement will be involved in the automated processing of biometric data. [...] Only children under 6 years of age are exempt from the measure.
- Christophe Cornevin. "Attack of the Louvre: the assailant placed in custody". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 7 February 2017.
L'examen du téléphone iPhone 7 retrouvé dans la veste abandonnée sur les marches du Louvre, ainsi qu'une recherche sur la base européenne Visabio laissant apparaître photo et éléments biométriques des voyageurs, atteste qu'il s'agirait d'Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, un Égyptien de 29 ans
- "Louvre attack suspect Egyptian national: Paris prosecutor". Yahoo News. Indo Asian News Service. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
Molins said the attacker was not carrying an ID but a photo registered in Visabio (a European biometric database including digital photography and fingerprints of visa applicants) was the same of the machete-wielding man.
- "Tentative d'attaque "terroriste" au musée du Louvre à Paris". Reuters (in French). Retrieved 7 February 2017.
The Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, said during a press conference in the evening that his life prognosis was "very probable". [...] The man did not carry papers and his identity was not formally established. But the search of a cell phone found in his backpack and research on the Visabio file, during the French translation of a European database, "targeted an individual of 29 years of Egyptian nationality" residing at United Arab Emirates, said the magistrate.
- Elspeth Guild, K Groenendjk, S Carrera. Illiberal Liberal States: Immigration, Citizenship and Integration in the EU. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7546-7698-0. Retrieved 7 February 2017.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)