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Colombia to issue new passports to fulfill Schengen visa-free requirement

Xinhua, August 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Colombian authorities will issue new electronic passports with the Schengen smart card next month to waive tourist visas for Colombians traveling to European Union (EU) member countries, Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said Monday.

During her trip across Colombia with President Juan Manuel Santos, Holguin said that this change is due to an agreement made with the EU to eliminate the visa requirement for Colombian citizens.

"We are the third country in Latin America that is going to use this passport technology after Brazil and Panama," she said.

Moreover, she said the process to replace all passports will last 10 years, adding that old passports with a bar code will be valid only until Nov. 24, regardless of their expiration date.

"Anyone who wants to leave the country from Nov. 25 needs to have this passport," Holguin said, reiterating that from that date all regular passports will be electronic but that machine-readable passports can be used until their expiration date.

Meanwhile, Santos said that soon, Colombians will not need a tourist visa for a total of 43 countries, including the 26 European nations in the Schengen Area. Endi