Loading…
Loading…
Europe’s ETIAS travel authorisation is coming — but not yet, and not on any published date. This page tracks what the EU has officially said, sourced line by line, and is refreshed as the rollout firms up.
Not open — and the EU currently publishes no launch date
ETIAS is not in operation and no applications are being collected — by the EU or anyone else. The EU's last published target, “the last quarter of 2026”, no longer appears on the official ETIAS site as of July 2026, and no revised date has been published in its place. The EU says only that it will announce the specific start date several months before launch.
“ETIAS is currently not in operation and no applications for travel authorisations are collected at this point.”
€20
application fee — free if you're under 18 or over 70 when you apply.
3 years
validity (or until your passport expires), across unlimited trips.
30
European countries covered by a single authorisation.
59
visa-exempt nationalities will need ETIAS to visit Europe.
Every entry below is sourced to an official EU page — newest first. Third-party “confirmed launch date” claims that don’t trace back to one of these sources aren’t official.
The official ETIAS site stops publishing a launch window. Its operative language becomes: ETIAS is not in operation, no applications are collected, and the specific start date will be announced several months prior to launch. No revised timeline has been published as of this review.
Source: travel-europe.europa.eu/etiasThe Entry/Exit System's six-month progressive rollout — the precondition ETIAS is sequenced behind — reaches its scheduled completion date (10 April 2026). The EU's published ETIAS line at this point remains “the last quarter of 2026”, to be followed by transitional and grace periods before ETIAS becomes a strict entry requirement.
Source: EU: ETIAS timeline explainedThe biometric Entry/Exit System starts operating on 12 October 2025, phasing in across border crossings over six months. ETIAS builds on EES infrastructure, so this start made the late-2026 ETIAS window possible on paper.
Source: travel-europe.europa.eu/eesThe European Commission sets the ETIAS application fee at €20 — up from the €7 written into the original 2018 regulation. Applicants under 18 or over 70 at the time of application are exempt from the fee (they still need the authorisation).
Source: European Commission (DG HOME)The Entry/Exit System's planned 10 November 2024 start is postponed and replaced with a progressive-rollout approach. Because ETIAS follows EES, this reset the ETIAS window to “the last quarter of 2026” in the EU's revised timeline.
Source: EU: revised EES & ETIAS timelineThe honest ledger. The rules of ETIAS are largely settled; the calendar is not.
| Status | Topic | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| The fee | €20 per application, set by the Commission in July 2025. Free for applicants under 18 or over 70 (the authorisation is still required). | |
| Validity | 3 years or until passport expiry — covering unlimited short stays within the 90/180-day rule, across all 30 countries on one authorisation. | |
| Who will need it | Visa-exempt non-EU nationals — 59 nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Japan. EU/Schengen citizens and holders of Schengen visas or residence permits will not need it. | |
| How it will work | An online application on the official EU portal or app; the EU expects most authorisations in minutes, with up to 96 hours (or longer if more checks are needed). | |
| A soft start | The EU has committed to a transitional period of at least six months after launch, during which travellers without an ETIAS will not be refused entry solely for lacking one, followed by a grace period before it becomes strictly mandatory. | |
| The launch date | There is none. The last published target (“last quarter of 2026”) was removed from the official site in July 2026, and no revised date has been published. | |
| When a date will be announced | The EU says only that it will announce the specific start date “several months prior” to launch. It has not said when that announcement will come. | |
| The exact end of the soft-start periods | The transitional and grace periods are defined relative to a launch date that doesn't exist yet, so the date ETIAS becomes strictly mandatory is also unknown. |
Derived from Charta Visa’s visa-routing engine: every visa-exempt nationality that will require an ETIAS once it launches. Pick yours for the full requirements page.
Your ETIAS will be tied to your passport and dies with it — an authorisation is valid for 3 years or until passport expiry. If your passport expires within a year or two, renewing before you apply means your €20 buys the full three years. Check your passport validity →
ETIAS doesn’t change the stay limits: 90 days in any 180-day window, same as today. If you travel to Europe often, track where you stand. Use the Schengen 90/180 calculator →
When ETIAS opens, the application will live at travel-europe.europa.eu/etias . The EU will announce the start date there, several months in advance.
Because no applications are being collected, no legitimate service — including ours — can file an ETIAS for you today. Sites offering to submit or “pre-register” ETIAS applications before the official launch are not legitimate. Charta Visa will only offer ETIAS assistance once the official system is live.
There is no confirmed start date. The EU's last published target was the last quarter of 2026, but as of July 28, 2026 that window no longer appears on the official ETIAS site and no revised date has been published. The EU has said it will announce the specific start date several months before launch.
€20 per application, paid once to the EU. Applicants under 18 or over 70 at the time of application are exempt from the fee, though they still need the authorisation. It is valid for 3 years or until passport expiry, covering unlimited short stays in all 30 countries.
No. ETIAS is not in operation and no applications are being collected — by the EU or by anyone else. No legitimate service can file an ETIAS application today; any website claiming to accept ETIAS applications or 'pre-register' you before the official launch is not legitimate. When ETIAS opens, the official application will be at travel-europe.europa.eu/etias.
No. ETIAS is a travel authorisation, not a visa, and it does not change how long you can stay. Short stays in the Schengen area remain capped at 90 days in any 180-day period, exactly as today.
EU and Schengen-country citizens will not need ETIAS, and neither will travellers who hold a Schengen visa or a residence permit from a Schengen country. Among the 59 visa-exempt nationalities that will need it, applicants under 18 or over 70 are exempt from the €20 fee only — they still need the authorisation itself.
Nothing changes: visa-exempt travellers keep entering Europe as they do today (since October 2025 that includes biometric registration under the EES at the border). After ETIAS eventually launches, the EU has committed to a transitional period of at least six months during which travellers without an ETIAS will not be turned away solely for lacking one.
While Europe’s system isn’t open yet, the US ESTA, UK ETA and Canada eTA are — check what your nationality needs in seconds.
Charta Visa is an independent private service, not affiliated with the EU or any government. A travel authorisation permits you to travel, not to enter — border officers make the final entry decision. Last reviewed July 28, 2026.