ETIAS, the online travel authorisation that UK visitors to France and most other European countries will eventually need, no longer has a start date. The EU had planned to launch it in the last three months of 2026. That date has been taken down and no new one has been set.
There’s nothing to apply for yet. ABTA, the UK travel trade association, has warned of more than 150 websites offering to sell ETIAS applications even though the system isn’t open. When ETIAS does start, every traveller will need their own authorisation, including children. Under-18s and over-70s won’t pay the fee.
Separately, EU countries can carry on pausing the Entry/Exit System checks at border points with long queues until the end of 2026, without the European Commission taking action against them. EES is the system that photographs the faces of UK passport holders and, from age 12, scans their fingerprints when they enter or leave the Schengen area. ABTA confirmed the arrangement at its travel convention on 13 October and has asked for it to continue into 2027.
This covers the French border checks at St Pancras and Dover that families pass through on the way to Disneyland Paris by Eurostar or by car, as well as airport arrivals in France. EES still runs at all of them. The pause only means the full face and fingerprint registration may not be taken at a busy time.
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