If you’re planning a trip to Europe, you don’t need ETIAS yet. The official ETIAS website says the system is not in operation, collects no applications, and that the EU will announce the start date several months before launch.
No ETIAS is needed today. Any website that takes your money for an “ETIAS application” now is not the EU. What does apply today is the Entry/Exit System (EES), which records every Schengen entry and exit, and the 90/180 rule.
Where things stand
ETIAS, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, is an online travel authorisation for people who can visit Europe without a visa, such as UK, US, Canadian and Australian citizens. The EU had earlier aimed to start it in the last quarter of 2026. Today the official site gives no date. Its wording is plain: ETIAS is currently not in operation, and the start date will be announced several months in advance.
That notice period matters. You won’t wake up one morning to find you needed an ETIAS for a flight you booked last week. There will be months of warning.
What ETIAS will look like
The rules are already fixed, even if the date isn’t. According to the official ETIAS FAQ:
- Cost: EUR 20 on the official website. Applicants under 18 or over 70 don’t pay, nor do qualifying family members of EU citizens.
- Validity: three years, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. You can enter as many times as you like.
- Countries: 30 European countries, which are the Schengen Area plus Cyprus.
- Stay: it doesn’t change the time you may spend there. That stays at 90 days in any 180-day period.
- Processing: most applications are expected to be processed within minutes, though some take longer.
- Transit: not needed if you stay in the international transit area of an airport.
Once ETIAS starts, a visa-exempt traveller without one will be refused boarding or entry, unless an exception applies. Holding one doesn’t guarantee entry: border guards still check you meet the entry conditions.
ETIAS is not the same as EES
People often mix the two up. ETIAS is a permission you get online before you travel. EES is the border system that has been registering your face, fingerprints and every entry and exit since it became fully operational on 10 April 2026. EES is the one that counts your days.
So the change that affects long-term travellers most has already happened. Your Schengen days are no longer guessed from passport stamps. They’re logged, and an overstay can be flagged automatically when you leave.
What to do now
- Don’t pay anyone for ETIAS. The only official fee will be EUR 20, through the official website or app, once it opens. Anything charged on top goes to an intermediary.
- Check your passport. When ETIAS starts, your passport must be valid for more than three months after the day you plan to leave Europe and must be less than 10 years old.
- Count your days properly. The 90/180 rule looks back over the last 180 days from every day you’re in the area, and arrival and departure days both count.
- Check the official site before a trip. When a date is announced, it will be there first.
How Noverstay helps
Noverstay logs the country you’re in each day and recounts your Schengen window every morning, the same way EES does at the border. It shows how many days you have left and the date you must leave by, and it reminds you 14 days before. We’ll update the Schengen Area rules as soon as an ETIAS start date is official.
Sources
Not legal or tax advice. Rules change; check the official sources above or a qualified adviser.
