Vis-a-vis visas, Europe plays catch-up

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican attracts tourists from all over the world.[Photo by Xu Lin/ China Daily]

Schengen nations are opening dozens of visa centers in China's smaller cities this year, following last fall's policies requiring biometric data that make applying thornier for those outside the few main megalopolises. Xu Lin looks at how the need for Chinese fingerprints has expanded the EU's visa-center footprint in the country.

Yin Rui is happy he won't have to travel to Beijing from his home in Henan province's Xinyang city to get his Schengen visa to visit Spain this year.

That's because the Spanish embassy in Beijing recently announced it'll open 12 new visa-application centers in such second-tier cities as Jiangsu province's capital, Nanjing; Liaoning province's capital, Shenyang; and Hubei province's capital, Wuhan, which is a 45-minute, 91.5 yuan ($14) high-speed train ride from Yin's city.

Otherwise, he and his wife would have to take a four and a half hour train trip to Beijing that costs nearly five times as much. He'd likely need to spend the night in the capital.

"It's convenient for people who don't live in big cities," the self-employed 31-year-old says.

Spain is among the Schengen countries, including the Czech Republic and Greece, opening new visa centers around the country this year. Germany, for instance, will open 10. France will open nine.

This is partly in response to the policy announced last October requiring Chinese to submit biometric data to get Schengen visas. (The information is stored for 59 months.)

Previously, there were few European consulates or visa centers outside Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou.

"It will have a positive impact on Chinese tourists, as the centers will offer convenient access for most clients," says Catherine Oden, director of Atout France (the France Tourism Development Agency) in Greater China.

"Their travel time to cities with the centers will be (considerably) reduced. It may also encourage more tourists to travel to France."

Nearly 400,000 Chinese visited Spain last year, a roughly 40 percent increase over 2014, the Spanish Statistics Institute reports. Their spending increased 62 percent.