Do I have to take fingerprints to apply for a Latvian visa?

People who know about visas all know that some countries will not only require applicants to prepare relevant materials and submit them to the embassy in China, but also apply according to the procedures required by the embassy. Fingerprint collection is one of them. Is it necessary to collect fingerprints to apply for a Latvian visa?

Latvia is not the most popular country, but it is also a Schengen country. In 2015, the EU official website in China published an introduction to the visa information system. When applying for a Schengen visa, applicants need to provide their own biometric data to the embassy in addition to submitting materials, that is, when applying for a visa for the first time, they need to enter their fingerprints at the designated place.

Although fingerprint entry is a matter that can be solved in one minute for applicants, it is a very heavy workload for embassies and visa centers. Therefore, when Schengen countries collect fingerprint information, the embassy's system will keep the applicant's fingerprint for 59 months. If it exceeds this time, it needs to be re-entered.

This also means that within 59 months from the first application for a Latvian visa, that is, nearly 5 years, during this period, those who apply for a German visa again do not need to enter their fingerprints again. At the same time, when the applicant is under 12 years old, they can also submit materials directly without entering their fingerprints, and they can re-record their fingerprints after reaching the age of 12.

However, in any case, people applying for Latvian visas basically have to collect fingerprints, but not all applicants have to collect them, and applicants do not need to worry, because fingerprint collection is not difficult and can be recorded in a few minutes, which will not delay the applicant's time.

The above is the answer to whether fingerprints must be collected to apply for a Latvian visa, because each applicant's situation is different, and the applicant should have a clear understanding before applying for a visa to avoid being affected.