Italian embassies and consulates worldwide resumed normal visa operations at 00:00 CET on 18 February after a scheduled six-day shutdown of the national Visa Information System (VIS-IT). According to a notice from the Italian Embassy in Muscat, the platform migrated to a new cloud architecture designed to interface with the EU’s forthcoming Entry/Exit System.
During the outage—12 to 18 February—no new Schengen or national visa applications were accepted and passports already lodged could not be returned, causing backlogs at VFS Global and TLScontact centres from Washington to Riyadh. Consular sections are now prioritising medical, family-reunification and business-travel files, with Muscat warning of residual delays of up to five working days.
![Italian Visa System Back Online After Week-Long Global Upgrade Freeze]()
To help travellers and corporate mobility teams overcome these knock-on delays, VisaHQ provides an end-to-end Italy visa service that includes document pre-screening, appointment scheduling and secure courier return of passports. You can learn more about how the platform streamlines Italian visa processing at https://www.visahq.com/italy/
Farnesina IT officials said the upgrade increases biometric-match speed by 40% and adds real-time fraud analytics, features intended to cut waiting times once ETIAS pre-screening starts later this year. The ministry urged applicants to use the Prenot@Mi scheduling portal rather than walk-in queues until workloads normalise.
Corporate immigration advisers should audit any appointments cancelled last week and seek accelerated slots where urgent project starts are at risk. Multinationals running February assignee intakes may need to adjust mobilisation dates or place travellers on business-visa exemptions until residence permits can be filed.
During the outage—12 to 18 February—no new Schengen or national visa applications were accepted and passports already lodged could not be returned, causing backlogs at VFS Global and TLScontact centres from Washington to Riyadh. Consular sections are now prioritising medical, family-reunification and business-travel files, with Muscat warning of residual delays of up to five working days.
To help travellers and corporate mobility teams overcome these knock-on delays, VisaHQ provides an end-to-end Italy visa service that includes document pre-screening, appointment scheduling and secure courier return of passports. You can learn more about how the platform streamlines Italian visa processing at https://www.visahq.com/italy/
Farnesina IT officials said the upgrade increases biometric-match speed by 40% and adds real-time fraud analytics, features intended to cut waiting times once ETIAS pre-screening starts later this year. The ministry urged applicants to use the Prenot@Mi scheduling portal rather than walk-in queues until workloads normalise.
Corporate immigration advisers should audit any appointments cancelled last week and seek accelerated slots where urgent project starts are at risk. Multinationals running February assignee intakes may need to adjust mobilisation dates or place travellers on business-visa exemptions until residence permits can be filed.
