EUROPE: Australians will need an ETIAS to visit Europe from May 2023

All non-EU visitors from around 60 countries, including Australia need a valid ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) travel waiver if planning to visit Europe for less than 90 days.

The online system is similar to the USA’s ESTA and designed to both increase security and streamline European Union entry.

It’s expected that 95 % of applications will receive almost instant approval, while the rest may take longer. Denied applicants will have a right to appeal. Expect to pay AU$11 for the 3-year visa waiver, allowing entry to the Schengen Aria for up to 90 consecutive days within any 180-day period.

What else do you need to know?

This is not an actual visa, but a visa waiver only available for tourists. If you are a student or want to work or conduct business or stay more than 90 days, then you will need to apply for an actual visa.

You will also need an ETIAS even if you are just transiting the Schengen countries. Countries covered:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland,

An ETIAS is also required in the following non-EU countries:

• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Romania

When can you fill in the online form?

That we don’t know. No start date for the availability of the online application has been announced. We do know the ETIAS will take roughly 10 minutes to complete, and require passport details, reasons for travel and some security questions. You can find more information here. And don’t rely on other sites like ‘ETIAS.com’, which isn’t an official EU website.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Just another digital certificate along with your vaccination details, and maybe COVID-19 test results – although by next European summer, maybe that requirement will be done away with.

At this point, you just wish that there was a Whole World Order so that procedures were universally the same for whatever country you entered, but that is about as likely to happen as Trump’s re-election in 2024.

Did I just jinx things?