Europe delays ETIAS: The rise of Electronic Travel Authorities and end to visa-free travel

Travellers who previously did not require a visa to travel are being 'caught out' by Electronic Travel Authorities. Photo / Getty Images

On Monday it was revealed that the European Union’s plan to introduce a $12 “Travel Authority” had been delayed by another year. The ETIAS pre-travel authority will not not be required until 2024. Airline bodies including IATA had said that air travel was simply not ready for the change, citing a “number of issues” that still need to be resolved. The online “visa waiver” for Europe, originally scheduled for 2022, has again been kicked into touch.

However, the ETIAS is part of a movement. Many countries, once offering restriction-free leisure travel, now require leisure travellers to jump through more hoops before visiting. Since 2019, New Zealand has been one.

The era of holiday-makers being able to hop on a plane “visa free” may soon be over.

A growing trend for countries requiring ‘Travel Authorities’ and pre-checks has meant that even supposedly “visa free” destinations are now requiring travellers to pay and register in advance, or lose their flights.

Next year there will be an additional 30 countries requiring eTAs from New Zealand tourists. New Zealand introduced an ‘NZeTA’ in 2019 for inbound tourists, without which visa waiver passengers cannot board inbound planes.

But what is the difference between a “visa” and a “travel authority”? And why are so many countries now requiring them?

Travellers on a Kiwi passport have long enjoyed access to many countries “visa free” or “visa on arrival”. New Zealand has an agreement with 187 sovereign countries to allow passport holders to enter without prior approval for the purpose of leisure or tourism.

Since the 1990s providing you had six months validity on your passport make a day-trip to a neighbouring country without additional paperwork. It means New Zealanders in the UK can catch a ferry to France, or cross la Plata from Buenos Aires to Uruguay on a whim.

From a broad brush approach where travellers from visa waiver countries had to be processed at the border, the eTAs are a way for countries to pre-register the intentions visitors before they reach the airport.

When the European Commission announced details for the ETIAS last year, Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life Margaritis Schinas said it was about shifting the screening process to before passengers fly.

“Anyone who poses a migratory or security risk will be identified before they even travel to EU borders, while bona fide travellers’ journeys will be made that much easier,” said Schinas.

Airlines have been less pleased with the arrangement. Currently it is up to carriers to check passengers have the appropriate Travel Authorities before they fly.

In a joint statement from industry bodies, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA), European region of Airports Council International (ACI), Airlines for Europe (A4E), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), airlines and airports say they need more time and more automation to bring in the new pre-checks.

“The EES will be a game changer for how the EU’s borders are managed. There are, however, a number of issues which must be resolved to ensure a smooth roll out and operation of the new system so that air passengers do not face disruption,” they said on Monday.

In the case of the USA and Europe’s proposed ETIAS - there are additional steps on arrival such as collecting biometric data, like finger prints and photographs.

The EU's ETIAS Travel Authority has been delayed until next year. Photo/ Guilliaume Perigois, Unsplash

What’s the difference between an eTA and a Visa?

If you have to apply and pay in advance for a travel authorisation - and be refused entry without one - you might think there is little difference between this and a tourist visa. Many tourists would say these are ‘de facto’ visas but border authorities say there is a subtle difference.

They allow countries to require visitors to register an intention to travel and allow them to run background checks, before they’ve set off.

Following the attacks on the World Trade Centre the USA introduced an electronic pre-authorisation. It’s likely if you’ve recently visited the states you will have applied for an “Electronic System for Travel Authorization” or ESTA.

For entering the US or New Zealand, most eTA requests are processed within 72 hours, though some may take longer to process. Compared to the processing time and requirements for other kinds of visas, the application is streamlined. However, they still attract a processing fee.

Since 2008 those intending to travel to America have been charged for an ‘authorisation’ to enter the country.

What’s more, travel authorities have become a vehicle for tourist taxes.

Of the US$21.00 fee for a new ESTA, US$17 goes towards a “Travel Promotion Act” fee, which pays for the marketing budget of the national tourism board.

Previously most tourist taxes were paid for by airlines, included in the cost of airfares. Now they are being charged directly to the traveller.

Taxes once hidden in seat prices now charged to passengers

In 2019 New Zealand introduced its own version of an electronic authority the NZeTA. Since October it has also been used to charge tourists an “International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy” (ILV) which goes in part towards conservation and infrastructure projects like the Milford Opportunities Project and Kākāpō breeding projects.

Tourist taxes are nothing new, but while previously they have been collected via the airline carriers or cruise lines, now the onus is on the travellers to pay up front. They will not be allowed to travel without it.

In fact there have been a number of travellers who have been refused entry to New Zealand for having not managed to apply in time. In December, CNN journalist Anna Stewart said she was unable to board her flight to New Zealand, because her NZeTA was still pending. 80-year-old Lois Crumpton from the UK was unable to visit family because, though she was granted an NZeTA, the electronic background check had not picked up an historic overstaying offense.

Given the distance most international travellers have to come, the cost of rebooking is not insignificant.

A spokesperson for Immigration New Zealand says that it was aware that some travellers have been refused boarding by airlines for failing to present an NZeTA, but it does not record the number.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) “acknowledges that it will be frustrating for travellers who have been ‘caught out” by this requirement.’

INZ says that Travel Authorities are “different from a visa, which is an endorsement on a passport indicating that the holder is allowed to enter, leave, or stay for a specified period of time in New Zealand.”

The electronic document has “strengthened border security” and brought “inline with international best practice,” they say.

Online application process prone to fraud

Due to the online process of travellers having to apply for their own travel authorities, foreign Travel Authorities have been plagued by scams and companies defrauding travellers into paying extra for the fixed-rate travel authorities.

For passengers searching for online application portals, it is not immediately clear which are the official links to apply.

From the introduction of first Travel Authority programmes such as the US ESTA, there have been many websites charging inflated service fees to lodge traveller’s applications on their behalf. In 2018 the Herald reported that some websites were charging New Zealanders up to ten times the processing fee for online ESTA applications they could have lodged themselves.

Many of these companies are aggressively marketed online, with some appearing above the official application portals for ESTA and NZeTA.

Although it will now not be required until 2024, the European Commission is already advising travellers to beware of websites fraudulently posing as the ETIAS processing portal. The ETIAS home page currently bears a warning to travelers of “possible abusive and fraudulent practices by commercial intermediaries”.

INZ says that it was aware of posing services, saying “in the past, legal action has been taken against third party websites identified as potentially acting unlawfully.”

Where possible, travellers requiring Travel Authorities are advised to apply directly via the official governmental websites. If in doubt you can find the official travel requirements and resources for a destination via MFAT’s Safe Travel website.

safetravel.govt.nz