ETIAS update - (travel authorisation to most EU States)

[Cotswold Eagle]

Further to previous discussions on the introduction of an electronic travel authorisation for non-visa nationals to enter the Schengen area, the European Commission has announced that the necessary precursor system, EES (collection of biometric data at the external border), will commence on 10th November. 
 

ETIAS, the approval required before travelling, should follow six months later, so we would expect to see it operational from May 2025 (at this point the Commission is just saying first half of the year)
 

Practical implications:

 

- from November, photo and fingerprints will be collected on first crossing of the external Schengen border (valid for three years thereafter)

- from May, non-visa nationals (including most UK and US citizens) must apply for an ETIAS before travel to the Schengen area

 

There is no requirement or process to apply yet. There will be a lot of publicity nearer the time and air/sea carriers will check. 

 

If you are seeking further information, please, please check you are reading an official EU website - there are plenty of unofficial ones out there, many of which will no doubt turn into unnecessary and expensive intermediaries, if not outright scams. 

[CruisinMama7]

Thanks for the ETIAS update, Cotswold!

[9265359]

10 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

- from November, photo and fingerprints will be collected on first crossing of the external Schengen border (valid for three years thereafter)

 

That is the case if you fly/train/ferry into a Schengen country from a non-Schengen country, for example to start your cruise, or you are on a 'one way' repositioning cruise that starts in a non-Schengen country and ends in a Schengen country.

 

However it does not apply if you are on a cruise ship starting and ending from a non-Schengen port, with Schengen countries as port stops, when a registration for EES is not required, so those sailing out of and back to the UK will not be troubled by EES.

 

So for example, fly into Barcelona from the UK/US to start your roundtrip cruise from there and you will do EES, but sail from and back to the UK with Barcelona as a port stop and you won't do EES, but sail from the UK with a cruise ending in Barcelona and you will do EES. 

 

Confused yet!

 

10 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

- from May, non-visa nationals (including most UK and US citizens) must apply for an ETIAS before travel to the Schengen area

 

For the first six months from May 2025 it will be a “transitional period” where those travelling are expected to have applied for the waiver, but if they have not they will not automatically be refused entry at the border if they fulfil the other entry conditions.

 

And the important thing to realise, is that although those under 18 or over 70 (or those with a spouse with EU or other Schengen country citizenship) don't pay the 7 euro application fee, they still need to have applied and received the ETIAS authorisation.

 

Edited August 21 by 9265359

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, 9265359 said:

 

That is the case if you fly/train/ferry into a Schengen country from a non-Schengen country, for example to start your cruise, or you are on a 'one way' repositioning cruise that starts in a non-Schengen country and ends in a Schengen country.

 

However it does not apply if you are on a cruise ship starting and ending from a non-Schengen port, with Schengen countries as port stops, when a registration for EES is not required, so those sailing out of and back to the UK will not be troubled by EES.

 

So for example, fly into Barcelona from the UK/US to start your roundtrip cruise from there and you will do EES, but sail from and back to the UK with Barcelona as a port stop and you won't do EES, but sail from the UK with a cruise ending in Barcelona and you will do EES. 

 

Confused yet!

 

 

For the first six months from May 2025 it will be a “transitional period” where those travelling are expected to have applied for the waiver, but if they have not they will not automatically be refused entry at the border if they fulfil the other entry conditions.

 

And the important thing to realise, is that although those under 18 or over 70 (or those with a spouse with EU or other Schengen country citizenship) don't pay the 7 euro application fee, they still need to have applied and received the ETIAS authorisation.

 

How would it have applied to the cruise we took in the summer of 2023 that started in the UK  and crossed Schengen borders, but was not roundtrip ending in Reykjavik?

[Dutch_Travelgirl]

Iceland is part of Schengen. 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

How would it have applied to the cruise we took in the summer of 2023 that started in the UK  and crossed Schengen borders, but was not roundtrip ending in Reykjavik?

 

Reykjavik is inside Schengenland.

[Dutch_Travelgirl]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

How would it have applied to the cruise we took in the summer of 2023 that started in the UK  and crossed Schengen borders, but was not roundtrip ending in Reykjavik?

Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland, which means it is part of Schengen. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Dutch_Travelgirl said:

2 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Reykjavik is inside Schengenland.

Iceland is part of Schengen. 

Yes, I realize that, but the example from the post I quoted only spoke of a round trip starting in the UK and going to Schengen countries.

 

And actually, Iceland was the last Schengen stop on the cruise. The first was supposed to be in Belgium (cancelled for extremely low tides), and the others were in Amsterdam and 3 in Norway.

[Globaliser]

17 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, I realize that, but the example from the post I quoted only spoke of a round trip starting in the UK and going to Schengen countries.

 

No, it also said this, which covers your situation of a cruise starting in the UK and ending in Iceland:

 

5 hours ago, 9265359 said:

That is the case if ... you are on a 'one way' repositioning cruise that starts in a non-Schengen country and ends in a Schengen country.

 

...

 

So for example, ... sail from the UK with a cruise ending in Barcelona and you will do EES.

 

[Dutch_Travelgirl]

57 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, I realize that, but the example from the post I quoted only spoke of a round trip starting in the UK and going to Schengen countries.

No, incorrect. There were many more examples. Including that of a cruise starting in the UK (non-Schengen) and ending in Spain (Schengen). The post literally says; “but sail from the UK with a cruise ending in Barcelona and you will do EES”

 

It doesn’t matter if it’s Spain or Iceland or Belgium. Schengen =  Schengen. 

Edited August 21 by Dutch_Travelgirl

[9265359]

2 minutes ago, Dutch_Travelgirl said:

Do you need an example for every single country in the Schengen Zone? 

 

I suspect they (and many many others) do...

 

For those who don't know, the Schengen area comprises all the EU member states other than Ireland and Cyprus (Ireland can't become part of Schengen because of the common travel arrangement with the UK and Cyprus is going through the steps to join) plus the four non-EU countries of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

[phabric]

To help me clarify, we will be coming from Canada and flying in/out of Heathrow, November 2025 and August 2026.

Roundtrip from Southampton 

Ports - Spain, Portugal, France, Canary Island, Gibraltar 

 

I don’t think I will need the waiver?  Please help me understand.

Edited August 21 by phabric

[Planning to cruise]

I havent checked but there is surely a UK Government web site on this setting out the official requirements.  That will be more definite than varying views of CC posters.  

[gumshoe958]

39 minutes ago, phabric said:

To help me clarify, we will be coming from Canada and flying in/out of Heathrow, November 2025 and August 2026.

Roundtrip from Southampton 

Ports - Spain, Portugal, France, Canary Island, Gibraltar 

 

I don’t think I will need the waiver?  Please help me understand.

By then you may need the UK’s own, totally separate ETA, which is currently being rolled out. No start date yet for Canadian or US passport holders though.

 

 

[9265359]

1 hour ago, Planning to cruise said:

I havent checked but there is surely a UK Government web site on this setting out the official requirements.  That will be more definite than varying views of CC posters.  

 

A better bet would be an EU website than a UK government website which has nothing whatsoever to do with EES and ETIAS...

 

EES - European Union (europa.eu)

ETIAS - European Union (europa.eu)

 

And good luck getting answers to the questions that people are asking from those official websites.

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

Good grief. This craziness is exactly why I posted just a broad brush update on implementation dates.  
 

Either one is going to have to supply information for EES, or not. Nothing you can do about it, not worth worrying about it. 
 

ETIAS implementation is not finalised. Don’t worry about it until it is.  
 

It’s really that simple.  

[Tsunami74]

Does anyone know if you would need EES for a connecting flight through a Schengen country - not leaving airport?

As Americans, we know that we will eventually need to get EES and ETIAS

My concern is that as far as I can tell by looking at the official web site, the EES application will be handled during our FIRST crossing into a Schengen.

This is what concerns me as the first time that we will be crossing into a Schengen country will be when we are flying through the Reykavik airport to a cruise only in UK next July.

We will not be staying in Iceland.

Would we still need to apply for EES at the airport which might make us miss our connection?

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

need to get EES

Please read the links in post #15

No one will need to get an EES. It is a process that will happen at the border crossing and your biometric data will be collected.

 

Would we still need to apply for EES at the airport which might make us miss our connection?

Again, you do not 'apply' as it is a process that will occur as you transit the airport, but it is unlikely if you are staying 'airside'.

 

Edited August 22 by VMax1700

[Tsunami74]

2 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Please read the links in post #15

No one will need to get an EES. It is a process that will happen at the border crossing and your biometric data will be collected.

 

 

I have read it.

The site doesn't answer my question - is transit through an airport a "border crossing"?

If so, we would have to reconsider our flight due to the predicted long ques would make us miss our connecting flight (we have about 2 hours)

[VMax1700]

19 minutes ago, Tsunami74 said:

is transit through an airport a "border crossing"?

providing you stay airside then it is very unusual to require processing by immigration (where EES will be captured) at a European airport.

 

If so, we would have to reconsider our flight due to the predicted long ques would make us miss our connecting flight (we have about 2 hours)

If you are on one ticket then the airlines will have considered this possibility in offering the connecting flights.

 

[Dutch_Travelgirl]

14 hours ago, Tsunami74 said:

is transit through an airport a "border crossing"?

That depends. If you transit from one Non-Schengen destination to another, you won’t go thru passport control and you won’t go thru the process of EES. 
So in your case, flying from the US (Non-Schengen) to the UK (non-Schengen) via Iceland, you don’t need to go thru anything. You simply walk to the next gate. 
It’s a completely different matter when you transit to a destination within the Schengen Zone. In that case, the airport in Iceland is where you will enter the Schengen Zone. You will need to go thru passport control and EES before you can enter the area of the airport where flights to other Schengen countries depart from. 

[fruitmachine]

3 hours ago, Dutch_Travelgirl said:

That depends. If you transit from one Non-Schengen destination to another, you won’t go thru passport control and you won’t go thru the process of EES. 
So in your case, flying from the US (Non-Schengen) to the UK (non-Schengen) via Iceland, you don’t need to go thru anything. You simply walk to the next gate. 
It’s a completely different matter when you transit to a destination within the Schengen Zone. In that case, the airport in Iceland is where you will enter the Schengen Zone. You will need to go thru passport control and EES before you can enter the area of the airport where flights to other Schengen countries depart from. 

... but only if your bags are checked through to your final destination.  If you have to pick them up and re-check them (e.g. because your journey is split across two tickets) you will be forced to enter the Schengen Zone in Iceland to do that collect & check-in.

[Planning to cruise]

We often transit through Schipol Airport Amsterdam.  We fly from the UK, non Schengen.  The onward flight is always to a Schengen destination.  We have to go through passport control to move from one section of the airport where flight one lands to the other for flight two.  It is one terminal, we remain airside and the bags are checked through.  If we were flying to another non Schengen destination we would remain on that side of the terminal without going through the passport border.