The Italian embassy has confirmed the theft of 1,000 Schengen Visa stickers from the locker room. There have been talks about stolen visa stickers from the Italian embassy this week and now the confirmation has been released by the Foreign Office of Pakistan, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the Italian embassy itself.
According to “The News” website, 750 stolen visa stickers have serial numbers from ITA041913251 to ITA041914000 and the 250 visa stickers have the numbers from ITA041915751 to ITA041916000. All concerned authorities at the borders and airports have been told to keep track of such visa stickers in any case.
The FIA will now look at this matter even though the Italian embassy has not so far submitted an FIR against the theft. The FIA is Pakistan’s central agency with a special anti-human trafficking unit to stop human smuggling and trafficking and its Red Book 2020 includes the details of around 112 most wanted smugglers and traffickers.
The Italian Embassy has informed Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry about this theft of valid stickers and they are also conducting internal inquiries. Generally, in embassies in Pakistan, including the overseas employees, the local employees are also hired. Many suspect that heavy corruption amounts might have been offered for the buying of these stickers.
Some still believe it is a genuine theft or stolen case which however seems impossible given that there are always strict security systems on Embassy premises. So most of the chances are that either one or more than one employee might have been involved who sold the stickers to the smugglers.
Can these stolen visa stickers be used?
No, as a general answer. Since the visa stickers are issued in the names of applicants who apply for the visa. The Schengen visa sticker normally includes the full name of the applicant, visa start and end date, valid entry days, passport number, and other biometric details. Special printers are used for printing the applicant’s information on these stickers.
Now there are two situations, if the stickers include the approved candidate’s details, then these cannot be used by thieves without the real passports of the visa holders. Secondly, if there are no approved applicants’ details written on the sticker, then smugglers, or thieves can use their printer to write down the holder’s details they want. Since the Italian embassy has issued sticker numbers to FIA, it now seems these stickers cannot be used to travel to any Schengen State.
Schengen Visa Countries
The Schengen visa allows the bearer to travel to 26 European countries which are:
- Germany
- Austria
- Belgium
- the Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- the Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
Last year was not that significant for travelers to Schengen countries where only 3 million short-stay C-type visa applications were submitted in the member states’ consulates and embassies abroad. The visa issued to third-country nationals was 2.5 million (exactly 2.489.146 which is 83% less than in 2019). The statistics were issued by the European Commission in May 2020. The ratio is extremely lower than in 2019 when 17 million visa applications were submitted in member states. Read here the complete report.
What is s Schengen Visa?
The Schengen visa is a short-stay visa that allows the holder to travel in the Schengen area. This visa holder is allowed free movement within the Schengen area member countries and “European Free Trade Association” EFTA Schengen members, up to the limit of his eligibility and duration. There are specific embassies/consulates in each Schengen country in Europe that impose different travel restrictions on Schengen visas depending on the case. Read here all the details for the Schengen visa.