In a little less than 2 years - from the beginning of 2021 - the new rules for entering the EU for Ukrainians will become valid. In accordance with them, every citizen wishing to visit one of the countries of the European Union will have to pre-register and pay a fee, the amount of which is 7 euros. What is the purpose of these innovations and how will they be implemented?
Why there was a need for new requirements
The European Union explained that the introduction of such a restriction as pre-registration is caused by the need to strengthen the security of the external borders of the community. A fee is needed to fund innovations.
The ideas about launching the ETIAS (from English - European Travel Information and Authorization System) appeared at the end of 2021. From the decoding of the abbreviation, it becomes clear that this is nothing more than a system for authorizing entry into the territory of Europe.
In early 2021, she received a positive assessment from the ambassadors of the European Union. In the autumn of the same year, the plan was approved by the EU Council.
February 2021 marked a new stage in the implementation of the ETIAS system. From the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union followed the political approval of the verification of information regarding the entry / exit of citizens of those countries that are not part of the Schengen area. Access to data for law enforcement officers has been simplified.
The article “Schengen countries - current list for 2021” will tell you about which countries form the Schengen zone and about the non-Schengen ones, which are subject to the laws of association.
Many Ukrainians, having heard about the innovation, were alarmed that Ukraine could be deprived of the visa-free regime. But these are erroneous conclusions. Citizens of all countries that have not signed the Schengen Agreement, but have a visa-free regime with the EU, will need to pre-register. Accordingly, a tax of 7 euros will have to be paid by travelers not only from Ukraine, but also from the USA, Canada, Australia and so on (about 50 countries in total). Thus, ETIAS has nothing to do with the intentions to abolish visa-free travel for Ukrainians.
The European Union is not reinventing the wheel: similar entry authorization systems in the United States and Canada have been in effect since 2009 and 2021, respectively.
The European Union calculated that during 2021, thanks to the payment of this amount by foreigners, it would be possible to receive about 200 million euros, which can be used as financial support for the functioning of the ETIAS system.
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Registration procedure
Every traveler who plans to visit the Schengen area for up to 3 months will have to register in the system. We are talking about tourist, business travel and transit through the Schengen area.
At least 96 hours before check-out, you will need to go to the official website etias.com and fill out the registration form. In particular, you will need to enter the following data:
- name and surname;
- date of birth;
- floor;
- current residential address;
- E-mail address;
- education data;
- information about the place of work;
- foreign passport number;
- the Schengen country with which the foreigner plans to start his journey through Europe.
You will also have to indicate whether there have been trips to the EU in the past, visa refusals, violations of laws and deportations. The form will also contain questions about the applicant's health condition. However, it is not planned to request information about the financial condition.
To start automatic data processing, you will need to pay a registration fee using a bank card. It will take a few minutes to check.
But the EU has warned that in some cases it may be necessary to manually check if the applicant's answers are in doubt. The time for such processing of the questionnaire is several days.
Registration in the system for minors will be free.
An entry permit will be issued for three years. If the passport expires earlier, the permit will expire. You will have to request it again after receiving a new document.
Can they refuse to issue a visa-free entry permit to the EU
Each applicant will receive an electronic response. There are several reasons why an application may be rejected. Among them:
- errors when filling out the registration form;
- the fact of deportation in the past;
- knowingly giving false information;
- suspicion that the applicant will try to find an illegal job in the EU.
If the refusal was due to errors in the questionnaire, it will have to be completed again. If the application is not approved for other reasons, it will be possible to file an appeal.
Outcome
The abolition of visa-free travel for Ukraine due to the introduction of new rules for entering the EU is not planned. The ETIAS barriers for third-country nationals are measures to ensure the security of the external borders of the European Union. To minimize the inconvenience for travelers, they promise to make the registration procedure as simple and fast as possible. According to forecasts, registration will significantly reduce the number of refusals of entry directly at the border, because it will be possible to find out about possible problems in advance.
