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ETIAS Schengen Travel Restrictions

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just been reading about this scheme which is due to come in from May 2023. It seems that all UK citizens visiting the Schengen area need to apply for this visa and pay the appropriate fee. Judging by the form they require quite comprehensive personal information ie medical/employment/criminal background history together with identity details ie passport etc and will be valid for a 3 year period.

Interested in fellow snowheads thoughts on this and whether you think that this could be detrimental to European travel in future

https://etias.com/etias-requirements/
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
U.K. passport holders who are resident in a Schengen country? Lots of us in this situation, are we exempt, I wonder? I don’t think €7 is going to put many people off travelling though.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@telford_mike, as I understand it, we are exempt. Although, I haven't looked in detail.

@nahdendee, "this could be detrimental to European travel"

What? fees and paperwork putting people off? surely not.
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I was wondering what the reasoning is for selecting or deselecting countries for the visa required list.
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It's not a visa, it's a visa waiver. People from countries deselected from the list (Vanuatu, currently) will require a visa.
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pam w wrote:
It's not a visa, it's a visa waiver. People from countries deselected from the list (Vanuatu, currently) will require a visa.


I was just about to post that it's not a visa, but a a visa waiver (as are the US ESTA and Canadian eTA), but you beat me to it. Laughing
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@telford_mike, in fact, "No, if you have a residency card or residency status in an EU country, you will not need to apply for an ETIAS but will need to travel using your proof of residency and a valid passport."

https://etias.com/etias-frequently-asked-questions
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
must confess, my expectation is 0 influence on any form of criminal activity.
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@under a new name, Interestingly, I'm Schengen (CH), but not EU.
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@telford_mike, I would think, as broadly usual, EU taken to include CH?
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under a new name wrote:
must confess, my expectation is 0 influence on any form of criminal activity.
Especially that in 10 Downing Street, but then they get away with that anyway.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@philwig, quite!
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Might it actually make travel easier? Conceivable that if you have ETIAS you might be able to use EU passport lanes etc (although might be my wishful thinking as will still need a stamp to check on length of stay)
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Snowsartre, wishful thinking?
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Let us hope those who design the form make them somewhat easier to fill out/upload data than those spanish prats who designed their various covid travel documentation and have a clarity of language that they also lacked
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I wonder if there’ll be boxes to tick to confirm we’re not terrorists or war criminals? Puzzled rolling eyes
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Maybe they'll use strange words like on the US form? Words that most would never have heard of in school unless they read a dictionary, so would not be able to make a truthful declaration with making a guess as to the meaning of the word. Mix up the answers between yes and no just to catch people out.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
andy wrote:
Maybe they'll use strange words like on the US form? Words that most would never have heard of in school unless they read a dictionary, so would not be able to make a truthful declaration with making a guess as to the meaning of the word.


Turpitude? Something to do with turpentine? Madeye-Smiley
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DJL wrote:
I wonder if there’ll be boxes to tick to confirm we’re not terrorists or war criminals? Puzzled rolling eyes


Definitely rolling eyes
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Snowsartre wrote:
Might it actually make travel easier? Conceivable that if you have ETIAS you might be able to use EU passport lanes etc (although might be my wishful thinking as will still need a stamp to check on length of stay)


It'll make travelling more difficult, initially at least. ETIAS registration will be checked at check-in. Lots of people won’t have got the memo, so will have to try to register at the airport, which may be problematic. It’ll be a bit like the 10 year passport debacle - tears, and 'holiday ruined' headlines in the tabloids.
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Quote:

would not be able to make a truthful declaration with making a guess as to the meaning of the word.

That happened to me when I was 7, in hospital after having my tonsils out. A fierce nurse with a clipboard stood at the end of my bed and asked whether I had had my bowels open. I had no idea what that meant but something told me that I should say "Yes".
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I think it'll make things much easier, in conjunction with the EES (Electronic Entry System) - should mean we can use e-gates and no need for passport stamps.
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Snowsartre wrote:
Might it actually make travel easier? Conceivable that if you have ETIAS you might be able to use EU passport lanes etc (although might be my wishful thinking as will still need a stamp to check on length of stay)


ETIAS and EES will mean no more stamps.

(EES delayed until the autumn so date in this is out of date): https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/from-mid-2022-brits-will-no-longer-have-their-passports-stamped-during-eu-border-checks/
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andy from embsay wrote:
Snowsartre wrote:
Might it actually make travel easier? Conceivable that if you have ETIAS you might be able to use EU passport lanes etc (although might be my wishful thinking as will still need a stamp to check on length of stay)


ETIAS and EES will mean no more stamps.

(EES delayed until the autumn so date in this is out of date): https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/from-mid-2022-brits-will-no-longer-have-their-passports-stamped-during-eu-border-checks/


Well I've already got 4 pages of my passport with Schengen zone stamps in since November 2021, so that will help prevent me having to renew my passport early because of it getting full! Madeye-Smiley
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Alastair Pink wrote:
andy from embsay wrote:
Snowsartre wrote:
Might it actually make travel easier? Conceivable that if you have ETIAS you might be able to use EU passport lanes etc (although might be my wishful thinking as will still need a stamp to check on length of stay)


ETIAS and EES will mean no more stamps.

(EES delayed until the autumn so date in this is out of date): https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/from-mid-2022-brits-will-no-longer-have-their-passports-stamped-during-eu-border-checks/


Well I've already got 4 pages of my passport with Schengen zone stamps in since November 2021, so that will help prevent me having to renew my passport early because of it getting full! Madeye-Smiley


Me too - using up all those flights last season meant I'm more than half full with 5 years to go!
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countryman wrote:
Let us hope those who design the form make them somewhat easier to fill out/upload data than those spanish prats who designed their various covid travel documentation and have a clarity of language that they also lacked


Thanks for the various replies. This is something I had thought about. I decided not to travel during the pandemic and one of the main reasons was that I did not want to go through the covid passport rigmarole with the various hoops / tests to negotiate

This now seems to me to be another level of bureaucracy / cost and information gathering that concerns me
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
nahdendee wrote:



This now seems to me to be another level of bureaucracy / cost and information gathering that concerns me


I think you might be making more of it than there is. It’s a 15 minute online application that you only have to do once every three years. The system is computerised so no manual checks. And it costs a fiver.

I think it’s more likely that this, plus EES, will make the process of entering and leaving Schengen much easier and more like the good old days.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@andy from embsay, no. the good old days were before the EU was invented and you were still using Babylonian counting systems.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@under a new name, Aye, give 'em an inch and they'll take a league. Or something.

Bring back rickets, that's what I say.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Quote:

This now seems to me to be another level of bureaucracy / cost and information gathering that concerns me

It is what it is, and the fallout from Brexit - some of it trivial (like this) and some much more damaging, will continue indefinitely. Anyone who travelled to the US always had to jump through lots of hoops and still stand in line for ages.
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Poster: A snowHead
pam w wrote:
Quote:

This now seems to me to be another level of bureaucracy / cost and information gathering that concerns me

It is what it is, and the fallout from Brexit - some of it trivial (like this) and some much more damaging, will continue indefinitely. Anyone who travelled to the US always had to jump through lots of hoops and still stand in line for ages.


I really think this has the potential to be way better than the US system as we all now have e-passports, so the ETIAS can be held on the passport and read electronically. E-gates for all hopefully. They've been using e-gates at Palma for about a year and you only had to stand in line for a stamp - which goes with the EES (September?).

Side note - in 5 or 6 trips into or through the US (LA and San Francisco) I never had more than a 5-10 minute wait. I actually found NZ immigration more of a pain as they have to do all the bio-security stuff after immigration.
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@andy from embsay, it is a bit absurd however. Why not just ditch the fee and the questionnaire, I mean which shoe bomber ever answered "yes" to " are you a terrorist"?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
pam w wrote:
It is what it is, and the fallout from Brexit - some of it trivial (like this) and some much more damaging, will continue indefinitely.
Anyone who travelled to the US always had to jump through lots of hoops and still stand in line for ages.
This. Pre-Covid I largely stopped transit through the US as the massive queues there (yes, yes, you're all great) made that process fraught and unpleasant.

You can't use e-passports if you're from the UK entering Iceland at least. The UK is now in the "other countries" line, for manual checking.
The favour is not returned - EU/EEA citizens share the line with UK people on the return to the UK.

Presumably the Brexit people will introduce some similar scheme to the Canadian/ US/ EU schemes, for Empire people or something.
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under a new name wrote:
@andy from embsay, it is a bit absurd however. Why not just ditch the fee and the questionnaire, I mean which shoe bomber ever answered "yes" to " are you a terrorist"?


Because they need some controls and data on who's coming in and out? The main thing is biometric data to be sure who applied is the person entering - I imagine your criminal record etc will be cross checked as part of the application. I'd rather we were in Schengen and borders were open, but we're not, so automated checks at the border gets my vote over being scrutinised by a bored Swiss bloke who then forgets to stamp your passport.
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@andy from embsay, but given the total lack of connection, data collected but not used is, debfacto useless.

Waste of time. And money.
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philwig wrote:
pam w wrote:
It is what it is, and the fallout from Brexit - some of it trivial (like this) and some much more damaging, will continue indefinitely.
Anyone who travelled to the US always had to jump through lots of hoops and still stand in line for ages.
This. Pre-Covid I largely stopped transit through the US as the massive queues there (yes, yes, you're all great) made that process fraught and unpleasant.

You can't use e-passports if you're from the UK entering Iceland at least. The UK is now in the "other countries" line, for manual checking.
The favour is not returned - EU/EEA citizens share the line with UK people on the return to the UK.

Presumably the Brexit people will introduce some similar scheme to the Canadian/ US/ EU schemes, for Empire people or something.


I think the reason EU can use e-gates coming into UK is because UK is a standalone territory - so they only need to be recorded on one system. Entering Schengen the various systems aren't currently linked (but will be after ETIAS and EES) so they have to have a physical stamp to show entry and exit. Individual countries can still allow e-gates (Spain and Portugal do) but they still need a stamp.
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under a new name wrote:
@andy from embsay, but given the total lack of connection, data collected but not used is, debfacto useless.

Waste of time. And money.


But I thought the whole point is that ETIAS and EES will link all EU countries' systems?
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@andy from embsay, aye, well, "will" and " have" are rather different, non?
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under a new name wrote:
@andy from embsay, aye, well, "will" and " have" are rather different, non?


But if they're not linked they won't launch it? The only reason to launch it is because they can then do away with manual checks, and they can only do that once the systems are up and running.
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If ETIAS and EES are anything like as good as the US systems have become, it will be a huge positive.

If you put the effort into pre-registering for Global Entry for the US it takes less than 5 minutes to clear immigration and customs - the major airports now run on facial recognition and I am typically in a taxi within 15 mins of landing. I find major US airports quicker than Geneva. If you fly more than once a year to the US it's an absolute no-brainer.

Even if you don't have Global Entry, the automated US systems are a lot quicker than they used to be, it's rare to wait more than 20 mins, and I've seen plenty of queues that length at Geneva.
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