Visa-free travel to Europe isn’t ending — but from late 2026 it comes with a new step. Travellers from ~59 visa-exempt countries will need ETIAS, an electronic travel authorisation and the EU’s counterpart to the US ESTA. Here’s what actually changes.
What ETIAS is
ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) is not a visa. It’s an online authorisation for citizens of visa-exempt countries: a ~10-minute form, a €20 government fee, and approval usually within minutes. It stays valid for 3 years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first.
The authorisation is linked to your passport and checked at airline boarding and at the border. Applicants under 18 and over 70 still need one, but pay no fee.
Who needs it
Citizens of the ~59 visa-exempt countries — including the UK, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Brazil, as well as Ukraine (biometric passports), Georgia and Moldova. You do not need ETIAS if you hold an EU/Schengen residence permit or an EU passport. Citizens of countries that need a Schengen visa (e.g., Russia, Belarus) are not covered by ETIAS at all — the visa process applies to them instead.
The timeline
- April 2026 — EES (biometric entry/exit checks) is already live at Schengen borders: face and fingerprint scans replace passport stamps.
- Q4 2026 — ETIAS launches and applications open.
- First ~6 months — a transitional period: entry without ETIAS is still possible.
- Next ~6 months — a grace period for first-time arrivals.
- Around late 2027 — ETIAS becomes fully mandatory: carriers won’t board you without it.
One thing to know now: nobody can file an ETIAS application before the system opens. Frontex, the EU border agency, has flagged more than 100 unofficial ETIAS websites and warns that any site “processing applications” today is fraudulent. The only official application site is europa.eu/etias.
Can you be refused?
The vast majority of applications will be approved automatically. A small share goes to manual review (up to 96 hours, or 30 days in complex cases) — triggered by data errors, security-database matches, or the form’s questions about convictions, deportations and past refusals. A single wrong digit in your passport number means your authorisation “won’t be found” at the border.
The rule is simple: get it right the first time, character for character against your passport.
How to prepare
- Check your passport’s expiry date — ETIAS validity is capped by it.
- Travelling in 2027? Build the ETIAS step into your plans — apply weeks before the trip, not at the airport.
- Don’t pay anyone for ETIAS before launch — applications aren’t open yet.
We’re preparing an ETIAS assistance service: pre-submission data checks, whole-family filing in one go, and refusal support — with a transparent service fee separate from the €20 government fee, filed only through the official site as EU Regulation 2018/1240 allows. Details and the launch waitlist are on our ETIAS page — leave your email and we’ll message you the day applications open.