With the EU's Entry/Exit System about to launch, scammers are exploiting traveller confusion over the separate ETIAS scheme. Here is what is genuinely required right now, how ETIAS will eventually work, and why the only safe place to apply is the official channel.
The EU's ETIAS travel authorisation has been pushed back again and is now due in the last quarter of 2026, once the Entry/Exit System is fully running. A grace period means it will not be truly mandatory until 2027.
EU home affairs ministers backed a phased launch of the Entry/Exit System and endorsed a revised roadmap that schedules ETIAS for late 2026. Here is what the March 2025 Justice and Home Affairs Council decided.
When the European Commission published its ETIAS proposal in 2016, it was careful to stress that the scheme was not a reaction to Brexit. It had been expected for years and was modelled on the United States' ESTA. Here is how the original plan was framed.
The EU set up an independent ethics body in May 2024 to introduce common ethical standards across its institutions. Here is what it does and why it matters for transparency and trust.
MEPs have endorsed a substantially reformed Eurodac, the EU's central database for fingerprints and asylum data, adding facial images and a far richer set of personal details. The overhaul promises sharper identification, better statistics and closer links to ETIAS and the Entry/Exit System.
On 10 April 2024 the European Parliament approved a reform of Eurodac, the EU's fingerprint database for asylum seekers and irregular migrants. The update adds facial images, lowers the identification age to six and links Eurodac to other EU systems.
Meeting in Luxembourg on 19-20 October 2023, EU ministers weighed the internal-security implications of the Middle East crisis alongside the migration pact talks and endorsed a new timetable for Europe's digital border systems.
The Council has adopted its first-reading position on visa-free travel for holders of Kosovo passports, moving the long-awaited exemption a step closer to reality. The European Parliament still has to sign off before the rules can take effect.
The Council presidency and European Parliament negotiators have agreed on draft rules that would let holders of Kosovo passports travel to the EU without a visa for short stays. Here is what the deal covers and when it would apply.