Stricter regulations: China requires fingerprints for visa

Travelers traveling to China will have to divulge even more for their visa in the future. "We have to take fingerprints from 16 December before the visa is applied for," confirmed a member of the Berlin Visa Center.

In addition, a photo is taken locally, although a photo of the application must be submitted anyway. Whether the technique is used for facial recognition, the employee did not answer, but said: "We require that a photo is taken to check whether it is indeed the applicant."

When arriving in China, foreign nationals with valid visas have to give their fingerprints at passport control anyway. Also, the face is captured with a camera.

With the visa tightening China is building another hurdle for travelers who want to visit the Middle Kingdom. Applicants can no longer save their time at the Visas Center by hiring a commercial service to handle the application and send the visa by post.

Excluded are persons under 14 and over 70 years as well as diplomats, as it says on the website. Also, whose fingerprints have already been registered for a visa within the past five years and who presents the same passport with the previous biometric visa can be exempted from the survey.

Since the summer, complaints from travelers have accumulated that the Chinese visa applications have become even more extensive and expensive. It also requires extensive personal information about relatives and employers, which many do not consider necessary for a visa application. How the stricter regulations affect the number of tourists remains to be seen.