This public consultation is part of a wider process of consultation of the stakeholders, feeding into a study on the necessity and proportionality of lowering the fingerprinting age for children in the visa procedure as a way to respond to concerns of children going missing, being victims of trafficking, child abduction, and irregular migration involving minors.

The study on the necessity and proportionality of lowering the fingerprinting age for children will, in particular:

• Analyse and assess the needs that lowering the fingerprinting age for children in the VIS would address;
• Analyse the proportionality of such a measure, including whether other, less intrusive measures are available;
• Analyse and propose options for lowering the fingerprinting age, and assess their impact.

You can contribute to this public consultation by filling out the online questionnaire.

For further information and reference documents please visit this website.