EU delays visa-waiver form to enter passport-free zone

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EU delays visa-waiver form to enter passport-free zone

British travellers are unlikely to face the charge until 2024 because the EU has delayed the introduction of a €7 visa-waiver form to enter its passport-free zone.

The European travel authorisation and information system Etias is scheduled to be operational from November 2023, and applies to non-EU citizens from 60 countries that have visa-free travel with the EU. The transition period will allow travellers to benefit from a six month period while border authorities run information campaigns on the new requirements.

Non-EU travellers will have to fill out a form and pay €7 5.91 in order to enter Europe's passport-free zone, as it is modelled on the US Esta scheme. The fee will apply to everyone aged between 18 and 70 and will be valid for multiple visits over three years. In most cases approval is expected to be granted within a few minutes.

Etias was due to start operations at the end of 2022, then in May 2023, but was postponed by a further six months, a delay first reported by the website SchengenVisaInfo.com.

The European Commission did not provide a reason for the new start date on its website.

The EU source said that the six-month transition period will be followed by a grace period of unknown length when travellers crossing the EU border for the first time under the requirements will be given some leeway.

Some British commentators have denounced Etias as a Brexit punishment despite the fact that the plans predate the EU referendum and were supported by the British government on security grounds during the UK's time as an EU member state.

It has been suggested that the scheme could simplify life for British travellers. Many Britons coming to the continent had to deal with gridlock at the port of Dover at the beginning of the school holidays last month when peak demand collided with the post-Brexit legal requirements for more exacting passport checks, as well as temporary staff shortages.

It means that Britons will be able to skip some of the checks they undergo now, as all their information will be available in their Etias. The border guards won't have to ask the questions that they ask now, said Besart Bajrami, founder of SchengenVisaInfo.com.

According to a report published in May, 1.4 billion people from 60 countries have the right to travel without visa to the EU. The visa-waiver form will require entry into all countries within the EU's border-free zone, including Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, which are yet to join the Schengen area. The citizens of Ireland, a EU member state not in the Schengen zone, will not be exempt from the Etias form.