In the spirit of the times for several years, the Chinese consular authorities in France will now require biometric data from visa applicants to be entered when submitting the consular file.
While the country is opening up more and more to tourists, with in particular the visa waiver policy for transit between 72h and 144h for major cities and the recent visa waiver for the island of Hainan, China does not intend to lower its guard! Where the vast majority of countries successfully choose the combination : electronic visa (e-Visa) + biometric data entry on arrival in the country, thus facilitating the delicate step of obtaining the visa with simplified access from its sofa or office, China is opting for a more stringent procedure… as applied by the Indian authorities earlier this month.
Announced since last year and implemented at Chinese airports for all visitors aged 14 and 70, fingerprints will now be taken before departure when submitting the visa application, as of 15 July 2019, as indicated in a memo from the Chinese visa centre.