From November 2023, Israelis entering the European Union will require prior online authorization and will need to pay €7, according to SchengenVisaInfo. The change will affect 63 countries that are not in the EU but whose citizens can currently enter visa-free. These countries include the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil and Mexico as well as Israel.
The change is part of the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), for which legal proceedings to enact were begun in 2016 and the system will become fully operational next November. The aim of ETIAS is to tighten security and border controls in the 26 member countries of the EU's Schengen Zone.
The EU said, "While citizens of countries who do not need a visa for travel purposes of up to 90 days in the EU do not need to go through a long process of applying for the visa, the ETIAS will make sure that these people are not a security threat. This travel authorization system will gather, keep track of, and update necessary information regarding visitors to determine whether it is safe for them to enter Schengen countries."
The EU says that the form takes 10 minutes to fill out and will be answered within minutes. "If what you filled out on the application form is correct, and you are eligible and not risky for the ETIAS, then you will be approved. This whole procedure is expected to be completed in only a few minutes. However, if there is a hit from the ETIAS, the application will be manually processed. The manual processing is expected to take about 96 hours (4 days), or a maximum of 2 weeks."
The €7 fee will not apply to people under 18 and over 70. The service will bring in a huge sum of money for the EU budget.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 9, 2022.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.