( Spanish) — Citizens of at least 63 countries Those who travel to Europe will need, from 2024, an authorization to enter the European Union, called ETIAS.
The European Union announced in 2018 that it created the European Travel Information and Authorization System ETIAS (or ETIAS for its acronym in English), which will require “a pre-travel assessment of the security and migration risks of travelers who benefit from visa-free access to the Schengen area.”
The Schengen Area is a zone of 26 European countries that have no internal borders and allow people to move freely between them, including countries like Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, and Poland.
Currently, citizens of several Latin American countries and the United States can travel to Europe for up to 90 days without any type of travel authorization.
Travelers who do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area, including US citizens, must apply for the ETIAS authorization before visiting the Schengen Area.
The long-awaited scheme was supposed to be launched in November this year. But it was delayed until 2024.
This is what you should know.
European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans during a press conference on progress towards a European Security Union and the proposal for a European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) at the European Commission in Brussels on 16 November 2016. (Credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)
Is ETIAS a visa?
NO, ETIAS is not a visa, is an authorization to travel to the European Union.
The European Commission clarifies that citizens of countries that do not need a visa to enter the Schengen area will continue to not need one. What changes is that travelers must apply for the ETIAS permit before their trip.
“ETIAS will be a simple, fast and comfortable system for visitors, and, in more than 95% of cases, it will lead to a positive response in a few minutes”, says the European Commission on its website.
To obtain this document you will not have to go to a consulate, they will not take biometric data or information such as that collected during the visa process, says the European Commission. By contrast, while visas are processed in a matter of days and even months, ETIAS “only take a few minutes” to process online.
“The ETIAS travel authorization will be a necessary and fast procedure for all visa-exempt travelers that will allow them to avoid bureaucracy and delays when presenting themselves at the borders. ETIAS will fully respect this visa-exempt status, facilitate the crossing of the external Schengen border and allow visa-exempt visitors to enjoy their status,” says the European Commission.
How long will ETIAS be valid?
The ETIAS validity period will be three years and it is valid for an unlimited number of entries, according to the European Commission.
How much does it cost to process the permit?
Travelers between the ages of 18 and 70 will have to make a single payment of 7 euros (about US$8) for the travel permit and it will be valid for three years.
Travelers under 18 and over 70 are exempt from this payment.
Since when will this permission be necessary?
According to the European Commission website, the ETIAS permit is expected to become operational from 2024although he does not give a more specific date.
At this time the system ETIAS is not operatingno data is being collected from travelers and the European Commission “plans transitional measures to guarantee a smooth deployment of the system.”
Which countries need ETIAS?
This document will only apply to citizens of countries and territories that do not require visas to enter the Schengen Area. Citizens of Member States of the European Union and countries belonging to the Schengen Area will not need ETIAS.
For example: a citizen of Norway traveling to his country from Latin America via Portugal will not need an ETIAS, since Norway is a member of the Schengen Area even though it is not a state of the European Union.
Currently citizens of 60 countries that do not need a visa to enter the European Union will need this permit.
The countries of the American continent that will need the ETIAS permit are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama , Paraguay, Peru, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
For which countries does this permit not apply?
The ETIAS does not apply to travelers from countries that need a visa to enter Europe. Currently, the countries of the Americas that are in this situation are: Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Suriname.
What do the new European Union border rules mean for travelers?
Why ETIAS?
Currently, the border authorities of the European Union have little information on visa-exempt travelers, therefore ETIAS will allow addressing this “information gap”, says the European Union.
With ETIAS, the European Union seeks to identify “security risks, irregular migration or epidemic risks posed by visa-exempt visitors traveling” to the Schengen area. Besides, says the European Commissionthe document will facilitate border crossing for travelers who do not pose these public health and safety risks.
“After completing an online application form, the system will perform checks against the EU information systems for borders and security and, in the vast majority of cases, issue a travel authorization within minutes. In limited cases , when additional traveler controls are needed, the issuance of the travel authorization can take up to 30 days,” says the European Commission on its website.
With this document, “the authorities will receive vital information necessary to assess the potential risks of people traveling to the European Union and, if necessary, a travel authorization could be denied,” adds the European Commission.
According to Frontex, in the European Union there are almost 1,900 border crossings and it is estimated that by 2025 there will be 887 million border crossings (for 2014 there were an estimated 565 million border crossings). The European Union estimates that approximately one third of border crossings will be by people who are not part of the European Union, so ETIAS seeks to control security issues in the region.
How will it work?
The ETIAS will work as follows:
Before traveling, those interested must fill out an application, via the internet, with basic information (name, age, occupation, passport number, country of entry into Europe). In addition, they must answer a questionnaire on safety and health issues, among others. Registration, in principle, should not take more than 10 minutes.
