British nationals set to pay €7 to enter Europe’s Schengen Area

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Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 53 total)

  • LHRSENflyer
    Participant

    The UK is the laughing stock of the world, let the Finnish border guards have a bit of pleasure out of the misery of living on this wretched island.
    And those who can have already gone down the route of ditching the sacred blue passport and getting dual nationality. JRM showed us how by moving all his assets to RoI to avoid paying tax, so the government only encouraged this.

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    Chris in Makati
    Participant

    According to the article on Business Traveller, when you make your initial ETIAS application one of the pieces of information you need to supply is “Intended travel and stay details”

    I assume that only needs to be provided on your initial entry into the EU, and not on subsequent trips during the remaining 3 years of the permit’s validity. Is that correct, or will there be a need to update your travel and stay details each time you visit?


    Travelcruiser
    Participant

    I like many others working in travel media that made our living moving freely around the EU without worry have had our livelihoods severely impacted along with hundreds of thousands of others working in arts, culture and entertainment and leisure industries.
    But as you say we’ll have more fish now.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    fluffymitten
    Participant

    It’s also not just for UK travellers. It’s for any ‘third country’.

    Yes, if the Brexit vote had gone the other way, UK nationals would be exempt. However, we are also not being singled out, which is how pretty much all media outlets seem to be reporting it. Nearly every article I’ve seen on the topic starts with “UK travellers will be charged a fee” or similar. This is technically correct but few go on to mention that this has been in planning for many years and is no different to any other country with a visa waiver system that wants to keep tabs on who is coming in and out.

    TBH, the UK should implement something similar. The HO could have piggybacked on the locator forms used for covid tracking.

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    Travelcruiser
    Participant

    Which is why I’m moving to Portugal! D7 residency and an EU passport in five years. Thank you Portugal for being so hospitable and forward thinking.


    Cedric_Statherby
    Participant

    [quote quote=1335520]It’s also not just for UK travellers. It’s for any ‘third country’.[/quote]

    And it’s not just the EU which is moving to stronger border controls. The crossing from Canada into the USA and vice versa may be between friendly states but is still a fully policed border, and even US and Canadian citizens have to go through immigration procedures which are not trivial and in general not waived even for frequent travellers.

    There are two small communities in North America for whom this is a real problem: Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada is unconnected to Canada and the only access is via a road bridge from Lubec, Maine, and right on the other side of the continent, Point Roberts, Washington State has no access to the rest of the US and the only access is through British Columbia. Difficult at the best of times (especially for the residents of Campobello Island whose main shopping centre is in Lubec), but during the pandemic, when the border was closed, it caused existential problems merely keeping the two populations fed.


    Hannah Brandler
    Keymaster

    You only need to provide “the country of your first intended stay and the address of your destination” for initial entry into the EU. There is no sign from the European Commission that you will need to update this each time you visit.

    It also states:

    “When you apply for an ETIAS travel authorisation, you are required to indicate the first country you intend to stay in. This information is used to process your application. However, once you have your travel authorisation in hand, you can change your plans and travel to any of these 30 European countries.”

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    DavidSmith2
    Participant

    It should also be noted that this is a visa waiver programme. if, like many countries, we needed an actual Schengen visa, the cost would be 80 euro, the paperwork much more onerous, and the chances of approval slimmer.

    Having decided to leave the world’s largest ‘single market’ perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies?

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I wonder who will be correct in their thoughts post the ETIAS & the cost

    Brother Jim – “And I could be wrong here, but from what I understand when ETIAS comes in, anyone with a valid ETIAS and an e-passport can use European e-gates,”

    or

    Cedric_Statherby – “I suspect the €7 fee and (limited) pre-travel admin will be the least of people’s gripes. It is when the full biometric checks are brought in – fingerprints and all – and all the extra queuing times that entails”

    Any chance of BT getting some further info on this. After all, we may be out of the EU, but we are all remain European – or could that possibly change as well….a 6th continent perhaps……


    Cedric_Statherby
    Participant

    [quote quote=1335612]wonder who will be correct in their thoughts post the ETIAS[/quote]

    Martyn, my understanding is that although they both form part of the EU’s new tighter border control policies, the ETIAS and the biometric checks are separate and distinct schemes, and will probably not be introduced at the same time. Details on the biometric checks (known as the EES, or Entry-Exit System) are still fluid; at one point the intention was to introduce them from May this year but I believe that may be slipping.

    The problem is that the scheme was designed when the UK was still a member of the EU, and it will be really stretched by the post-Brexit reality. The busiest border crossings into the EU from non-EU states are now all between the EU and Great Britain (the intra-Ireland border is not affected and is excluded, partly because of the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland, and partly by specific mention in the Northern Ireland Protocol); the busiest three are expected to be St Pancras (for people going by Eurostar), the Channel Tunnel terminal in Kent and Dover, and none of them are remotely ready for the implementation of EES.

    At Dover for example the time taken to process a car with 4 passengers is currently between 30 seconds and a minute; under EES no-one expects it to take less than 2 minutes even if all goes well (4 sober, experienced and co-operative adults), and throw in tired children, frazzled parents and the like and some Border Agency staff reckon it could take well over 5 minutes a car. And it is not as if Dover flows smoothly even now …


    BrotherJim
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1335612]

    Whilst the UK is still obviously in Europe, what is at issue isn’t access to Europe but access to the countries who are members of the Schengen Area, which of course is distinct from being members of the EU or being on the continent of Europe.

    Obviously there are countries in Schengen who are not part of the EU, and there are countries in the EU who are not Schengen members. And rather ironically there is one ex member of the EU who was not part of the Schengen Area when they were part of the EU. In that case however access to UK nationals to Europe was under EU rules not Schengen. But now the UK is neither they are 100% 3rd party nationals.

    Whilst I know your comment was somewhat tongue in cheek the whole issue is not black and white, nor do I think it is being done to the UK out of spite. The UK made a decision, rightly or wrongly to leave the EU and being 3rd party nationals is one of the (many) effects of this.


    Eric
    Participant

    They all insist that they knew exactly what they voted for so they should have seen this coming. If the UK government had been open to reciprocal arrangements rather than dialling up the culture wars this could have been avoided. At least Sunak now wants to make progress rather than his petulant predecessors.


    Alsacienne
    Participant

    I have asked this question twice to the authorities organising this measure but am yet to have a reply … so I’ll try here …

    Will UK passport holders with a resident’s card for an EU member country be required to acquire the ETIAS visa or will their resident’s card act as a ‘get out of jail free’ card?

    And another one …………… having already given my fingerprints for this card, will I need to provide them again for the EES or will they already be held on a relevant database somewhere?


    DavidSmith2
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1338587]

    Based on what 3 friends have told me, they think it will be needed although they share your concern about a lack of clarity. The logic is that ETIAS is a Schengen entry permit so you would only be exempt if you have a long-term Schengen visa. However logic is not always the determinant of such decisions so perhaps they will clarify this point soon.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    Chris in Makati
    Participant

    According to the article here, EU countries will no longer stamp passports of third-country visitors when their new Entry/Exit System comes into effect. I assume this will mean that everyone will be able to use automated gates at entry points as passports will not have to be manually inspected.

    EU Soon to No Longer Stamp Passports of Third-Country Nationals Entering Schengen

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