ETIAS Explained
- Julie @ Worldwide - Explorer Travel Holidays
- Jun 28, 2022
- 6 min read
There's lots of pretty misleading information in the press and on social media and a lot of scaremongering - about the new ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) system and charges to enter EU countries from next year. This is a long post, but covers it accurately (at the time of writing and fully explains it.
The key points:
It only applies to non-EU visitors to EU/Schengen who don't currently need a visa to enter - known as "visa-waivered nationals"
It doesn't come into force until the back end of this year and won't be compulsory until around spring 2023.
It doesn't override Schengen restrictions (you can visit any EU member country for 90 days in any 180 day period) - these still apply
The ETIAS is free for minors and over 70's but everyone visiting the EU/Schengen zone from outside of the EU will still need to have either an ETIAS, a Visa, or have EU freedom of movement rights of their own (i.e. not derived from a family member) to enter the EU once it is in force. For everyone who has to pay, it will cost €7 for a three year period (an average of €2.33 per year, so a negligible cost to factor into your holidays).
ETIAS isn’t a visa, it’s a travel authorisation in lieu of a visa.
So why is it needed?
To answer this we need to explain what a visa is and what it means to be visa waivered
What is a visa?
Most countries of the world require visitors to their country to apply for a visa before they visit – usually they need to be applied for in advance, although occasionally they are requested and issued on arrival at the country’s border. The application process often involves an interview at the country’s consulate and there will be a fee to pay. For example a EU (Schengen) tourist visa costs USA citizens $96, they would pay $127 to visit UK for 6 months.
Background checks are carried out as part of the application process such as: checking the applicant against watch lists; establishing if they have sufficient funds for their stay; details of their tickets, accommodation and health insurance; whether their motivations for visiting are sound and so on. The visa may take several weeks to be granted and can be refused.
The visa grants entry into the country so that the holder can carry out whatever processes the visa permits. So for example it might be a business visa for Saudi Arabia so that the traveller can work there short term, or a study visa for a Canadian to become a student in UK, or a tourist visa for an American to holiday in the EU. A physical visa is inserted into the passport and has to be stamped on entry and exit from the country it covers.
What is a visa-waiver?
To make things easier for nationals of one country to travel to another, generally for tourism only and for a limited period, their governments can make agreements to allow the citizens of the other country to travel to theirs without needing anything other than a passport (although they may stipulate that the person has sufficient funds or similar when arriving at the border). When this happens the nationals of those countries become “visa-waivered” for travel between them. They have no formal application process to follow and no additional costs.
UK nationals were already visa waivered for a huge number of countries around the world (93 non-European countries) plus places like Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Gibraltar, Monaco, Montenegro, Albania, Andorra, Belarus (30 days only), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Vatican City. We weren’t classed as visa-waivered for visiting EU and EEA member states because when we were EU citizens our freedom of movement rights meant we were free to enter them with no formalities or restrictions at all.
Once the UK left the EU, the EU granted UK nationals visa-waiver status immediately, so there was little obvious change for travellers who were purely visiting the EU for tourism purposes. Since the end of the transition period (1st Jan 2021), visa’s have been required for UK nationals for business, study etc, even if only for 90 days, and more obviously for long term residency.
Most of the visa-waivered periods are time limited, i.e. entry without a visa is restricted to a specific length of stay and generally restrict the visitor to tourism only, longer stays or stays for work/study etc will still require a visa. The shortest visa-waivered period for UK nationals is just 14 days (Lesotho) and the longest is 365 days (Georgia) but the majority (64 countries) are for 90 days. Some have no limit at all. The EU limits visit to Schengen states (as a group, not as individual countries) to 90 days in a 180 day period, non-Schengen EU states have 90 day limits per each individual country.
So why ETIAS?
As we can see from the above, the difference between the process for a person who requires a visa to enter a country and those that don’t need one is significant. For example, a USA citizen wishing to visit Schengen countries has to apply for a visa and all their details are scrutinised. This makes it very secure, if they have anything in their background that makes them a risk to the country they are entering then they don’t get to travel. For visa waivered travellers, like a UK traveller visiting Germany, there’s absolutely no checks at all.
To close this security loophole countries such as the USA (which has visa-waiver agreements with 40+ countries including UK) have introduced a basic security check process for visa-waivered visitors. The USA version, the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) was introduced in 2008 and costs a UK national $21 and usually takes 72 hours to be granted. Two other well known ones are the eTA's (Electronic Travel Authorization) for Canada and Australia, which cost $7CAD and $20 respectively.
Making it obligatory for travellers to apply for these means that the country can carry out background checks on the applicant before they travel – if the applicant fails the background check then the ESTA/ETA won’t be issued and the person cannot enter the country.
ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) is the EU’s equivalent of the ESTA and eTA’s, and should be “online” by the end of this year and be mandatory by Spring of 2023. The main difference between the ESTA/eTAs and ETIAS is that the former are for single countries (USA, and Canada & Australia respectively) whereas the ETIAS covers all of the EU/Schengen states with one authorisation. i.e. once a person has been issued with an ETIAS authorisation they can travel throughout EU/Schengen countries. The authorisation for entry lasts 3 years.
What will they need to know about me?
The following data will be required for each ETIAS application: personal biometric data e.g. name, gender, data of birth, and other passport or travel document information; the EU member state of entry (you will need to stipulate which country you are arriving in first so that might not be Spain if you usually travel via France); background questions on an applicant's health and criminal record (although minor misdemeanours are unlikely to be an issue – it’s threats to EU security that are of interest); as well as previous EU immigration history – so blackmarks for previous Schengen overstays may be problematic.
How much will it cost?
As previously mentioned, the cost is €7 for a three year period, for all adults aged between 18 and 70, but they are free for minors and those over 70 (but they must still be applied for – every visa-waivered visitor must have an ETIAS permit to enter). The parent or guardian of the minor will need to complete the paperwork for their child.
Note that Schengen restrictions will still apply, ETIAS makes no changes to that, so an ETIAS holder will still only be able to visit Schengen for tourism purposes and cannot be in the zone more than 90 days in a rolling 180 day period.
This information is based on the details that have been released so far. There are still some unanswered questions but until the European Commission publishes more, nothing else can be added.
Hopefully this helps to answer some of the questions that have arisen from some of the misinformation being shared in the press and on social media.
You can find out more at...
...but be aware that neither of these is an official source, they both state they aren’t affiliated with the EU/EC.
The official source is...
....but this hasn’t been updated recently.
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