ETIAS or European Travel Information and Authorization System is a process that tracks travelers from countries that don’t need a visa to enter the European Union. This system serves a similar purpose to ETAS or the US electronic system for travel authorization. The legal requirements for the system were passed in 2016 and the system is supposed to come into effect by 2021. This article provides information on ETIAS or the European travel authorization system.
Citizens from countries in Europe that don’t need a visa to enter the European Union should apply for the travel authorization before they plan to enter the EU for less than 90 days for business, holidays or transit purposes. The system will ensure these visitors are not a security threat to the European Union. The entire application process takes less than 5-10 minutes to fill out and submit via the internet. You will get the authorization through an email. Hence, you should have a valid email address and a credit or debit card to pay the small fee involved in applying for the visa. There is no paperwork involved since the process is done online. You will get a reply in a couple of minutes if all the information was submitted properly. If there is an issue with the information you submitted, the application will be processed manually. The manual process can take between 96 hours or two weeks the maximum. That’s why it is important that you apply for the authorization well in advance when you plan to enter the EU from a country that doesn’t need a visa to enter the EU. These are important things to consider when applying for the European Travel Information and Authorization System.
The aforementioned article provides information on the European Travel Information and Authorization System or ETIAS.