ETIAS start date: where things stand

Why there is no date

ETIAS can only start once the Entry/Exit System (EES) works everywhere, because the two systems are connected. EES started on 12 October 2025 and became fully operational on 10 April 2026, after a difficult rollout with long queues at some borders.

In March 2025 the EU had set a target of the last quarter of 2026 for ETIAS. In July 2026 that wording disappeared from the official website without a press release, and the Financial Times reported that eu-LISA, the EU agency that builds the system, no longer considered a 2026 launch feasible. No replacement date has been published since. A start in 2027 is widely expected in the press, but it is not official.

Timeline

Dates of each step, newest first, with the source of each entry.

1. 19 October 2026Specialist press confirms that the official ETIAS page still gives no start date: the system is not in operation and no applications are collected. — SchengenVisaInfo
2. July 2026The words “last quarter of 2026” disappear from the official ETIAS website. The Financial Times reports that a 2026 launch is no longer considered feasible. — Euronews
3. 10 April 2026The Entry/Exit System (EES) becomes fully operational at the external borders of 29 European countries. ETIAS cannot start before EES is in place. — Euronews
4. 12 October 2025Progressive start of the EES: non-EU short-stay travellers begin to be registered with fingerprints and a facial image. — Euronews
5. July 2025The EU confirms that the ETIAS fee will be €20 instead of the €7 originally planned. — The Local
6. March 2025The EU sets a new target: ETIAS to start in the last quarter of 2026. — AFAR
7. 12 September 2018Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 establishing ETIAS is adopted. The system was initially expected to run from 2021. — EUR-Lex

What happens once a date is announced

The EU has committed to announcing the date several months in advance, with an information campaign. After the launch, ETIAS will be phased in.

Transitional period (at least 6 months). Travellers should apply, but border guards will let in visa-exempt travellers without ETIAS if they meet the other entry conditions.

Grace period (at least 6 months). ETIAS becomes required. As an exception, a traveller without ETIAS may still be let in if it is their first entry since the end of the transitional period. On any later trip, they will be refused.

Full application. After the grace period, travellers without a valid ETIAS will be refused boarding by carriers and refused entry at the border.

In practice, this means that ETIAS will only become strictly unavoidable about a year after its launch, at the earliest.

Be careful with dates you read elsewhere

Many websites still announce a firm date, or a launch “in a few weeks”, often to sell an application service. Until the EU publishes a date on its official website, any precise date is a guess. We update this page as soon as an official announcement is made, and show the date of our last check at the top.