Etias will see eligible non-EU residents pay a €7 fee to enter 30 countries in the bloc, including Spain and France
The EU has once again delayed the introduction of its visa-waiver programme for third-country nationals such as British passport-holders – now until at least mid-2025.Like the US’s Esta programme, visitors aged 18-70 from more than 60 countries will need to apply for an Etias in advance of travel. It will be valid for three years, or until the holder’s passport expires, whichever comes sooner.
The system was intended to come into effect a year ago, in late 2022, but operational hurdles – notably the IT infrastructure required to process Etias at space-constrained border points – have seen it repeatedly pushed back until May, then November 2023,andHowever, the European Union has since confirmed that “starting in mid-2025, some 1.4bn people from over 60 visa-exempt countries will be required to have a travel authorisation to enter most European countries”.
Paving the way for Etias will be the first stage, the Entry/Exit System , which is now scheduled to be operational from autumn 2024. It will see third-country entrants providing biometric data at the border – systems will store a combination of four fingerprints and a facial image and the data will be collected once and stored for three years.
With around 1.4 billion people required to subscribe to EES and Etias, there are concerns that the new measures will significantly delay border checks. Non-profit civil liberties organisation Statewatch says “member states have confirmed that despite promises of increasing efficiency, the EES will
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