Europe’s new travel authorisation scheme for non-EU citizens has moved a step closer after the rules that govern how the system will interact with other European information systems came into force on Tuesday.
The
European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) – similar to the
US ESTA scheme – is due to come into operation by the end of 2022. Once ETIAS
is in place, non-EU citizens travelling to the Schengen area who are exempt
from the visa requirement will need to obtain an authorisation
before travelling.
The details of non-EU travellers will be checked against Europe’s
Entry/Exit System, the Visa Information System, the Schengen Information System
and a centralised system for the identification of EU member states holding
conviction information on non-EU nationals. The checks are intended to help identify people ahead of travel who may pose a risk to security or health, as well as checking for compliance with migration rules.
The introduction of ETIAS
will not change which non-EU countries are subject to a visa requirement and
will also not introduce a new visa requirement for nationals of countries that
are visa-exempt.
Once live, online
applications via ETIAS are expected to take a few minutes and more than 95 per
cent of applications are expected to be approved automatically. The ETIAS
authorisation will cost €7, which will be a one-off fee, and will be
valid for three years and for multiple entries. We wrote in 2018 how the scheme could cost British companies €40 million a year post-Brexit.