As of 10 October 2026. This page is informational, not legal advice. ETIAS has no start date yet, and the EU will announce it several months ahead. The only official place to apply will be the EU's ETIAS website and its official app. Verify every detail there before you travel.
ETIAS is not required yet. As of 10 October 2026 the EU’s travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors is not in operation, and no applications are being collected. The EU says it starts in the last quarter of 2026 and will name the date months in advance. When it does, US, UK, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passport holders will need one before travelling to any of 30 European countries: EUR 20 online, valid for three years.
ETIAS question | Answer, as of 10 October 2026 |
|---|---|
Is it required now? | No. Not in operation, no applications collected |
When does it start? | "Last quarter of 2026"; date announced several months ahead |
Cost | EUR 20; free under 18, over 70, and for qualifying EU family members |
Validity | 3 years, or until your passport expires if sooner |
Stay it allows | Up to 90 days in any 180-day period |
Processing | Most within minutes; up to 96 hours; up to 30 more days if asked for documents or an interview |
Where it applies | 30 countries: the 29 Schengen states plus Cyprus. Not Ireland |
Who needs it | Nationals of 59 visa-exempt countries and territories, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand |
Is ETIAS required right now?
No. The official ETIAS site says the system is not in operation and no applications are collected, so a trip to Europe needs no ETIAS today. The start is set for the last quarter of 2026, with the date announced several months ahead. A site taking ETIAS money now is not the EU.
That is the whole answer for a trip booked today, and it is also the scam warning. Sites with ETIAS in their name already rank on page one for “etias”, and some of them sell applications. The EU’s line is blunt: there is one official ETIAS website, on the europa.eu domain, and applying there directly costs EUR 20. Anything charged on top goes to an intermediary.
The launch has slipped before. The EU’s own explainer says the Entry/Exit System had to go first and ETIAS would follow a few months later; EES became fully operational on 10 April 2026. So “last quarter of 2026” is the plan of record, not a date. Book trips on the assumption that you will need ETIAS from whatever day the EU announces, and check again before you fly.
Who will need ETIAS, and who will not?
You need ETIAS if you are a non-EU national with a passport from one of 59 visa-exempt countries or territories, on a short stay of up to 90 days in the 30 ETIAS countries. EU citizens do not need it. Nor do holders of a valid Schengen visa or an EU residence card or permit.
The test is three conditions together, per the official FAQ: not an EU national; a citizen of a visa-exempt country; and no residence card or residence permit issued by an ETIAS country. The 59 nationalities include the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil and Israel. Irish citizens are EU nationals and are out of scope.
A valid visa for the area removes the need for ETIAS. So does a residence card under the EU free-movement directive or a residence permit from an ETIAS country (Cyprus permits are a partial exception). Long-stay visa and residence permit holders are covered by their own documents. If your trip is for work or study beyond 90 days, ETIAS is the wrong product: you need a national visa.
ETIAS by passport: US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
All five passports will need ETIAS, on identical EU terms: EUR 20, three years, 90 days in any 180. Only the UK differs in practice, because ETIAS is checked before you board ferries at Dover and trains leaving the UK, and because Withdrawal Agreement residents are exempt.
Passport | Needs ETIAS? | What is different | Check before you go |
|---|---|---|---|
United States | Yes, from launch | Nothing in the EU rules is US-specific | |
United Kingdom | Yes, from launch | Checked before boarding at Dover and on UK rail departures; Withdrawal Agreement residence documents exempt, except those issued by Ireland | |
Canada | Yes, from launch | Nothing Canada-specific | |
Australia | Yes, from launch | Nothing Australia-specific | |
New Zealand | Yes, from launch | Nothing NZ-specific |
That table is short on purpose. The EU rule is one rule, and a separate “ETIAS for Canadians” page would repeat this one with a different flag. The differences that exist are about how you travel, not who you are.
The UK case is the one with real consequences. The EU’s own example: a family taking the Dover–Calais ferry each needs an ETIAS, and border authorities check it at Dover before boarding. The same applies to trains departing the UK. UK nationals who are Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries, holding the uniform residence document from an ETIAS country, are exempt. Two carve-outs: a document issued by Ireland does not exempt you, and one issued by Cyprus only covers Cyprus.
For US travelers there is one family case worth knowing, straight from the EU’s FAQ. A 19-year-old American visiting a French parent who lives in Spain can apply with family-member status and pay nothing. That authorisation is not valid for France, the parent’s own country: a trip there needs a regular ETIAS at EUR 20, because EU free-movement rules do not apply there.
How much does ETIAS cost, and how long is it valid?
EUR 20, paid online, non-refundable. Applicants under 18 or over 70 pay nothing, and so do qualifying family members of EU citizens. The authorisation lasts three years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first; a new passport means a new ETIAS.
The fee was EUR 7 in the original plan, and that number still circulates. The EU announced EUR 20 in July 2025 and uses it on every official page now. Plan on 20.
Validity follows the passport. If your passport has two years left, your ETIAS has two years. Renew the passport and the old authorisation dies with it, because ETIAS is linked to the document number. The EU emails you before expiry, and you can apply for a new one 120 days before the old one runs out.
The passport itself has to meet two rules: valid for more than three months after the day you plan to leave the area, and issued within the last 10 years. A passport that fails either rule can still produce an ETIAS application, but the EU warns you will be refused entry at the border.
How long will ETIAS processing take?
Most applications will be decided within minutes and the rest within 96 hours. If the EU asks for more documents you get 10 days to send them; an interview, by a consulate or online, adds more. The worst case runs to about 30 days, so apply before you buy tickets.
The EU’s advice is to get the authorisation before booking flights and hotels, and the timeline explains why. Minutes is the norm. A request for documents restarts a 96-hour decision clock after you reply; an interview brings a decision within 48 hours of it. For an urgent trip there is a separate route, an ETIAS with limited validity, which the official site covers.
What ETIAS does not do
ETIAS adds no days and guarantees no entry. It collects no fingerprints either: the Entry/Exit System takes those at the border. Your stay is still capped at 90 days in any 180, and a border guard can still refuse you. It does not cover Ireland.
Four limits, all from the EU’s own pages. ETIAS is not a visa and does not change anyone’s visa-free status. It lets you board, but the border guard decides whether you enter. It does not stretch the 90/180 rule: use our Schengen 90/180 calculator to count days, including trips before April 2026 that the EU’s own checker ignores. And it is a separate system from the Entry/Exit System, which registers your biometrics at the border every time you cross. ETIAS collects no fingerprints at all.
Cyprus is in ETIAS but counts days separately. Time in Cyprus does not use up the 90 days for the other 29 countries, and the reverse holds too. Ireland is not an ETIAS country.
Mistakes that will cost you a boarding pass
The authorisation is matched to your passport number, so one wrong character means refused boarding. Watch zero against the letter O. Use an email address you control, and apply only on the europa.eu site or official app. Drafts are deleted after 48 hours, and only the Latin alphabet is accepted.
The EU’s FAQ lists the errors it expects. A passport number typed with a zero for an O produces an ETIAS that does not match your document, and the airline will not board you. The email address is where every decision and reminder goes, so it must be yours, not an agent’s. A small typo can be corrected on request, but that can take up to 30 days; for anything larger the EU’s advice is to apply again.
Each traveler needs their own authorisation, children included. There are no family or group applications.
Where ETIAS applies: the 30 countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. That is the 29 Schengen countries plus Cyprus. Our corridor pages carry the ETIAS status for the Schengen destinations we cover, for example Spain for US citizens and France for UK citizens.
FAQ
Sources
- ETIAS, official website of the European Union — not in operation, start date to be announced months ahead, EUR 20 (checked 10 October 2026).
- ETIAS FAQ — eligibility, fee exemptions, validity, processing times, passport rules, family-member status, Cyprus counted separately (checked 10 October 2026).
- Who should apply — the 30 ETIAS countries and the 59 visa-exempt nationalities (checked 10 October 2026).
- UK nationals and ETIAS, EU news, 16 April 2026 — pre-boarding checks on UK departures, Withdrawal Agreement exemption and its Ireland and Cyprus carve-outs.
- Key differences ETIAS and the EES — ETIAS collects no biometrics; it launches a few months after the EES.
- EEAS, information on ETIAS — “No action is required from travellers at this point” (checked 10 October 2026).
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