The ETIAS, which stands for the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, is a document that Americans will have to obtain online in the future in order to be eligible to travel to most of Europe, and is very similar to the American Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA), SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
While Americans were supposed to start applying for an ETIAS from November 2023, this won’t happen, as the EU has postponed the ETIAS launch date sometime by the end of the first half of 2024.
Due to delays that have been caused by contractors for the Entry/Exit System, another EU travel security system, the date when the same launches has also been postponed from May 2023, to the end of the year. Since the ETIAS cannot function without the EES being fully operative, the EU has had no other choice but to postponed the ETIAS too.
While an exact date for either system is still not defined, the EES will enter into force by the end of the year, whereas the ETIAS will follow five or six months later.