A partir del año 2025, los nacionales de al menos 60 países diferentes deberán presentar un documento conocido como ETIAS para poder entrar en la Unión Europea.  As of 2025, nationals from at least 60 different countries will be required to present a document known as ETIAS to enter the European Union.

The European Union announced in 2018 that it has created the European Travel Information and Authorization System, also known as ETIAS, which will require "a pre-travel risk assessment on security and migration for travelers benefiting from visa-free access to the Schengen Area".

This measure, according to EU authorities, is taken to combat the "growing threat of terrorist attacks in Europe".

Countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Italy and Poland are members of the Schengen area, which is an area made up of 26 European nations that have no internal borders and allow people to move freely between them.

At this time, citizens of several Latin American nations, as well as citizens of the United States, may travel to Europe for up to 90 days without requiring any type of authorization or visa to do so.

Prior to traveling to the Schengen area, visitors who do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area, such as U.S. residents, must submit an ETIAS permit application.

ETIAS was initially scheduled to be introduced in November 2023. However, all indications now are that this will not occur until 2025.

More information below:

Is ETIAS a visa?

The answer is no. An ETIAS permit is not the same as a visa to enter the European Union. An ETIAS permit is not a visa, it is a travel authorization requirement for visa-exempt visitors, similar to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) in the United States.

The new travel authorization applies to those entering any member country of Europe's Schengen Area. Currently, this includes 22 countries that are also members of the European Union, four non-EU countries and three European micro-states. That means you will have to register to enter:

To obtain this document, you will not have to go to a consulate, nor will you be asked for your biometric data or other information similar to that requested during the visa process. Moreover, the ETIAS "only takes a few minutes" to complete online, compared to the days or even months it takes to process a visa application.

According to the European Commission, "The ETIAS travel permit will be a mandatory procedure for all visa-exempt passengers, and it will be a procedure that can be completed quickly. This will allow them to avoid bureaucracy and delays when presenting themselves at borders".

Why ETIAS?

According to the European Union, ETIAS will fill the "information gap" that now exists between EU border patrol agents and visa-free tourists.

Through the use of ETIAS, the European Union hopes to identify "security risks, irregular migration or epidemics posed by visa-free visitors traveling" to the European Union's Schengen area. In addition, the European Commission has stated that the document would facilitate the crossing of international borders for individuals who do not pose a significant threat to public health and safety.

According to the European Commission, "authorities will receive vital information necessary to assess the potential risks of persons traveling to the European Union and, if necessary, a travel authorization could be refused" with the help of this document "authorities will receive vital information necessary to assess the potential risks of persons traveling to the European Union".

Frontex says there are more than 1,900 border crossings in the European Union, and there are projected to be 887 million border crossings by 2025 (the estimated number of border crossings in 2014 was 565 million). According to EU projections, approximately one third of border crossings will be made by non-EU citizens. ETIAS is therefore working to maintain calm in the area and contain potential threats.

How will ETIAS work?

Individuals interested in traveling must submit an online application with basic information (name, age, profession, passport number and country of entry into Europe) before traveling. In addition, they will have to answer a questionnaire on various topics, including health and safety. The registration process should take no more than ten minutes at most.

According to information provided by the European Commission, the ETIAS will be valid for 3 years and can be used for an unlimited number of entries.

To obtain the travel permit, travelers between the ages of 18 and 70 will have to pay a one-time fee of €7 (about US$8). This cost will not apply to travelers under the age of 18 or those over the age of 70.

Although no more specific date is provided, the European Commission's website states that the ETIAS permit is scheduled to be active from 2025.

At the moment, as the ETIAS system is not yet operational, no data on travelers are collected, and the European Commission is "envisaging transitional measures to ensure a smooth implementation of the system".

As mentioned above, ETIAS will only apply to nationals of countries and territories whose residents are exempt from the need to obtain a visa to enter the Schengen area. ETIAS will not be required for citizens of countries that are members of the European Union or are part of the Schengen area.

For example, a Norwegian citizen entering Spain from Latin America through Portugal does not need an ETIAS, as Norway is part of the Schengen area even though it is not a member state of the European Union.

This permit is required to enter the European Union for citizens of 60 countries that currently do not require a visa to enter the EU. See the complete list here.

As for which countries are excluded from the scope of this permit, the ETIAS is not available to tourists from nations where visas are required to enter Europe. Countries in the Americas such as Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Suriname will experience this problem, but this will ultimately mean that they will still need to apply for one of the types of visas available to them to enter Spain.