alphanumeric data — data represented by letters, digits, special characters, spaces and punctuation marks 11.

applicant — any person subject to the visa requirement pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1932/2006 (OJ L 405, 30.12.2006, p. 23). , who has lodged an application for a visa 5.

application form — the uniform application form for visas in Annex 16 to the Common Consular Instructions 4.

group members — applicants who are obliged for legal reasons to enter and leave the territory of the Member States together 6.

identification — the process of determining a person's identity through a database search against multiple sets of data (one-to-many check) 10.

Member State responsible — the Member State which has entered the data in the VIS 8.

travel document — a passport or other equivalent document entitling the holder to cross the external borders and to which a visa may be affixed 7.

verification — the process of comparison of sets of data to establish the validity of a claimed identity (one-to-one check) 9.

visa — ‘short-stay visa’ as defined in Article 11(1)(a) of the Schengen Convention; ‘transit visa’ as defined in Article 11(1)(b) of the Schengen Convention; ‘airport transit visa’ as defined in part I, point 2.1.1, of the Common Consular Instructions; ‘visa with limited territorial validity’ as defined in Articles 11(2), 14 and 16 of the Schengen Convention; ‘national long-stay visa valid concurrently as a short-stay visa’ as defined in Article 18 of the Schengen Convention 1.

visa authorities — the authorities which in each Member State are responsible for examining and for taking decisions on visa applications or for decisions whether to annul, revoke or extend visas, including the central visa authorities and the authorities responsible for issuing visas at the border in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 415/2003 of 27 February 2003 on the issue of visas at the border, including the issue of such visas to seamen in transit OJ L 64, 7.3.2003, p. 1. 3.

visa sticker — the uniform format for visas as defined by Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 2.