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By Marc Menendez-Roche • Published: 14 Mar 2025 • 7:59 • 1 minute read
A hand operating a touch screen with the ETIAS logo.ETIAS delayed again: No EU travel permit needed until 2027.Credit: Shutterstock, Ivan Marc
The long-awaited European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) won’t be mandatory until April 2027 at the earliest, giving UK and other visa-free travellers to the EU a bit more breathing room. Despite previous plans to implement the system sooner, the EU has confirmed another delay.
The latest on ETIAS and EU border control
Originally meant to launch years ago, ETIAS is now set to follow the rollout of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES). The EES is expected to be fully operational by April 2026, with ETIAS kicking in six months later. But don’t pack your bags just yet – there will be a further six-month grace period, pushing the absolute enforcement of ETIAS to October 2027.
In other words, travellers from the UK, US, and other visa-free nations won’t have to apply for an ETIAS permit until at least April 2027. Even then, the first six months will act as a transitional period, where entry without ETIAS is still possible. Only from October 2027 will ETIAS become an absolute requirement for all.
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Written by
Marc Menendez-Roche
Marc is a writer, teacher, and language enthusiast. With a background in business and legal communication and an interest in educational neuroscience, Marc has spent over a decade teaching and writing. Now, as part of the team at Euro Weekly News, Marc enjoys diving into entertaining topics and stories that matter to the community. When he’s not writing, Marc loves practising martial arts, playing football, cooking up a storm in the kitchen, or spending quality time with friends and family, but above all, Marc enjoys spending time with his son, Macson.
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