{"id":1146588,"date":"2026-08-13T17:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T17:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1146588\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T17:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T17:24:24","slug":"etias-travel-permit-delayed-again-launch-date-removed-from-official-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1146588\/","title":{"rendered":"Etias travel permit delayed again \u2013 launch date removed from official website"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe’s beleaguered Etias travel permit<\/a> has been delayed yet again with a launch date being postponed indefinitely.<\/p>\n

A statement declaring that the launch would take place in “the last quarter of 2026” has been quietly removed from the official Etias page<\/a> and replaced by a notice stating that Etias “is currently not in operation and no applications for travel authorisations are collected at this point”.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Independent, a European Commission<\/a> spokesperson repeated verbatim the statement it provided one month previously, stating that preparations for the launch were “ongoing”.<\/p>\n

It added: “Obviously, as with any large-scale IT system, many factors come into play when deciding when to launch it.<\/p>\n

“Once all conditions are in place, the Commission will set a date for the start of the system.”<\/p>\n

According to one report<\/a>, “a revised timeline is expected after eu-LISA’s September 2026 board meeting; a 2027 launch is now the most likely outcome”.<\/p>\n

The online system will eventually require travellers from visa-exempt countries including the UK, US, Australia and Canada to apply for pre-travel authorisation to 30 European countries, including France<\/a>, Spain, Italy and Portugal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The permit will reportedly cost \u20ac20 (\u00a317), with applicants required to complete an online form, provide personal information and answer security questions.<\/p>\n

Children under 18, adults over 70 and some family members of EU citizens are expected to be exempt from the charge.<\/p>\n

The news follows calls for the European Union to pause the entry-exit system (EES) system<\/a> following long queues at airports across Europe.<\/p>\n

EES requires travellers to provide biometric data, fingerprints and facial scans when travelling to Schengen area countries.<\/p>\n

The scheme has caused severe bottlenecks at European border checkpoints<\/a>, leaving significant numbers of British holidaymakers and hauliers stranded in hours-long queues, with some missing flights or ferries.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, new polling found that nearly one-fifth of UK adults have considered swapping a summer holiday in Europe for a staycation in Britain as a result of border chaos.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Europe’s beleaguered Etias travel permit has been delayed yet again with a launch date being postponed indefinitely. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1146589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[139105,2000,299,5187,2557,14017,1699,92525],"class_list":["post-1146588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-etias","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-commission","tag-european-countries","tag-european-union","tag-the-independent"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117089367938081318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1146588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1146589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1146588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1146588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1146588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}