In 2018, Visa announced the capture and validation of a cardholder’s signature is optional for EMV-enabled merchants.
In response to COVID- 19, Visa has extended this policy to all merchants, regardless of their EMV chip capabilities, to reduce the need for customers to interact with POS terminals. Effective May 14, all merchants have the option to no longer capture a signature as a cardholder verification method, except where applicable laws or regulations otherwise require a signature to be captured.