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Towards the end of 2022 – and by Jan 1st 2023 at the latest – British travellers to the EU will require ETIAS visa waivers. To apply for the ETIAS, travellers will need to supply details of previous trips to Europe, certain health issues and more. Without an approved ETIAS, airlines and ferry companies will be obliged to refuse boarding to British passport holders. So far, so straightforward for the vast majority of British citizens living in the UK and looking to take a short trip to Europe.
But what about British citizens who are Art. 50 card holders? As residents in the EU (in whichever EU country) we should not require an ETIAS waiver – and as I understand it, the ETIAS waiver can only be applied for from a UK address anyway. In anticipation of problems arising, is there any clarity or awareness of the potential issues – not only for British in Austria, but also Brits in other EU countries?
– Is it correct that Art 50 card holders will NOT require a ETIAS waiver? (I can see nothing about this on the EC website, which contains information about the scheme as it was designed to operate in 2016, i.e. before Brexit).
– Are the airlines/ferry companies being made aware of this? (see e.g. the recent confusion in the UK around passport rules for Schengen).
– Are the border agencies throughout Europe going to be aware of the rights of Art 50 card holders?
– Might the situation arise that Art 50 card holders entering Schengen through a country other their country of residence might be refused boarding or entry without a ETIAS? – e.g. someone resident in Austria flying from the UK to Munich en route to their home in AUT. -
We have had confirmation from the EU Commission that Article 50 holders in Austria are exempt from both ETIAS and EES. As to what the airlines and border agencies are doing I cannot comment. I believe ETIAS also does not apply to Third Country Nationals who hold valid residence permits. See Article 2, section 2. – https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32018R1240&from=EN
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Thank you for confirming the official position.
Having seen first hand the issues that arose with the question of the validity of UK passports for entry into Schengen (because of the incorrect information being given by the UK government and being applied by some airlines), and also the confusion around Passenger Locator Forms which resulted in people being incorrectly denied boarding, my concern is really about having the confidence that every Agency and carrier has the correct information. Perhaps this could be raised at a future meeting with the Embassy and Austrian authorities.
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Can I suggest that you formally log the issue yourself with the consulate team (link is on the right hand side). It is just a lot of the interaction we had with the Consulate team is tailing off and by logging it formally yourself the powers that be in London have visibility: https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-vienna#contact-us and if you are not happy with their response, you can raise the issue here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/complaints-procedure.
If you are on Facebook, I would also recommend joining this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/biatravel
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As and aside, we did contact the EU Commission recently regarding this issue and this was the response:
“The Europa website will be updated with further details on EES and ETIAS. In addition, there will be a website on ETIAS run by FRONTEX.
These websites will be available before the Entry into Operations of EES and ETIAS.” -
Here’s some official links for EES and ETIAS (due to launch sometime on 2024) https://travel-europe.europa.eu/index_en
and who does not need to apply for ETIAS – https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/who-should-apply_en#who-does-not-need-an-etias-travel-authorisation
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