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Britons won't have to pay EU visa waiver fee next summerThe Etias scheme has been delayed, but a new fingerprint system risks catching out holidaymakers from MayBritish tourists will not have to pay a fee to go on summer holidays in the EU next year, but will have to submit a photograph and fingerprints to a new entry system to the bloc.The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) is the EU’s answer to the Esta, which tourists must have to enter the United States.Etias had been due to come into force next May but has now been delayed until November 2023. It was previously scheduled to begin at the end of this year.The new rules mean Britons, who are no longer EU citizens after Brexit, will have to apply online for a pass costing €7 to enter the bloc. The pass lasts for three years or until the expiry of the traveller’s passport, whichever comes first.“The Etias is scheduled to enter into operation as of November 2023,” said a European Commission spokesman.The delay will be welcomed by a travel industry fearful that summer holidaymakers would fall foul of the change in rules.However, the EU’s long-delayed Entry/Exit system (EES) is still due to come into force in May and risks catching out summer tourists.The system requires the registration of non-EU travellers' photos and fingerprints, which will be submitted in the form of biometric data. It will also register the name, travel documents and date and place of entry and exit.
Next summer’s holidays face threat from new EU fingerprint checks New EU fingerprint checks threaten to ruin next summer’s holiday getaway, the boss of the Port of Dover has warned.Doug Bannister, Dover’s chief executive, said the new EU system of biometric checks for travellers could cause “significant and continued disruption for a very long time.”The EU’s new “Entry-Exit System” (EES) will require any Briton who wants to travel to the EU to apply for a travel authorisation document that will allow them into the bloc for three years.Every time they seek to enter the EU they will be expected to show a facial image and provide four fingerprints from which only children aged under 12 will be exempt.The regime... applies to entry through any EU port, airport or border checkpoint for non-EU travellers.The regulation sets out that all adults and teenagers will have to provide not only biometric data of facial image and fingerprints but also personal data including first name and surname, date of birth, nationality, sex as well as the travel document and the three-letter code of the issuing country of the document.
Holidaymakers in the dark over €7 charge to visit EuropeNine in 10 British holidaymakers are in the dark about a new EU scheme which will require them to pay €7 per person to visit most European countries.A new report has warned few people know about the upcoming charges, which take effect from November 2023 and are expected to collectively cost British citizens €275m per year.The ETIAS system applies to all non-European travellers and each €7 visa-waiver permits the holder a 90-day stay. Once a traveller has been approved they will not have to apply for another visa-waiver for three years. On top of the €7 fee, travellers will also have to upload some personal information including passport details as well as answering security questions and health questions concerning infectious diseases.The ETIAS application is expected to take 10 minutes to complete but could take up two weeks to process if it requires manual assessment.
Fingerprint and face checks at EU border to take British travellers ‘up to four times longer’Exclusive: Entry-Exit System that UK asked to be subject to could cause serious snarl-ups at ports and airportsEuropean nations have warned that new fingerprint and face checks on arriving in the EU could take “up to four times longer” than the present system – with the processing time increased by up to two minutes per person.The tougher border checks, known as the “Entry Exit System” (EES), are due to come into effect in May 2023 – just ahead of the peak summer season.The UK helped develop the EES while part of the European Union – then, with the Brexit withdrawal treaty, asked to become subject to the new system.From next summer, each time a third-country national crosses an EU external border, fingerprints and a facial biometric must be checked.
Holiday boost as EU delays fingerprint checking Holidaymakers travelling to Europe this summer will be spared long queues at the border, after the EU delayed the rollout of fingerprint checks. The new entry and exit system (EES) - which would have required travellers from outside of the bloc to have their photographs taken and fingerprints scanned - was set to be brought in this May, but has now been pushed back until at least the end of the year. The EES will replace the current system where passports of non-EU travellers are checked and stamped on arrival and departure.Once in operation, holidaymakers from outside the EU travelling into a member state will have details including biometric data, fingerprints and facial images taken at an automated kiosk.The EU is also planning to introduce the European Travel Information and Authorisation System in November. It will require travellers to register for the system ahead of entering the EU country and pay a fee of €7 (£6.13). It will be similar to the visa waiver scheme already in place for travellers to the US.When implemented, the EES will apply to all EU member states, apart from Cyprus and Ireland, as well as four non-EU countries - Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Spanish Tourism Organisations Firmly Oppose ETIAS, Fearing They Might Lose Brits – Spain’s Top Tourism MarketSpanish tourism representatives are objecting to the ETIAS, the EU ‘tourist tax’ as they fear that British holidaymakers will drift away to a different destination, especially after some additional taxes to visit European destinations were introduced.
Brits Won’t Have to Apply for an EU Travel Authorisation Until 2024United Kingdom passport holders can continue to travel to the Schengen Area countries without any additional hurdles, at least until the end of 2023, as the European Union has once again postponed the coming into force of the ETIAS travel authorisation.The ETIAS, which stands for the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, is a completely online system which has been initiated in 2016, and will affect travellers from over 60 world countries, including here British nationals, who will have to apply for a travel authorisation through the ETIAS website before travelling to the EU in the future, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.While the requirement was supposed to become effective on November 1, 2023, its seems that the EU has silently postponed it once again, to 2024.Without any prior warning or announcement, the EU Commission’s Migration and Home Affairs website has simply changed the ETIAS roll out date to 2024.
Travel to the EU is going to become very different – eventuallyWhat are ETIAS and EES? Plus everything you need to know about when the EU will start fingerprinting and charging UK arrivals