Furious Brits lash out at EU over travel charge

Furious Brits lash out at EU over 7 euro travel charge.

UK holidaymakers will have to hand over 7 euros every three years as part of the European Union’s new European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), that will come into force by the end of 2022. It is thought that the fee could apply to around 40 million people, although the process will be an easy one and 95 per cent of people are expected to be approved automatically.

“The ETIAS authorisation will cost €7, which will be a one-off fee, and will be valid for three years and for multiple entries,” said the European Commission.

According to the Express many Brits have hit back though. One person thinks the UK should hit back and impose similar requirements on EU travellers: “The UK should impose such a requirement on everyone from the EU who travels to the UK.

“But they should add an NHS surcharge per visit.”

Another reader said: “If the EU insist on people paying to enter their member countries. People will just not bother going.”

Many people feel that the cost is something that they will have to put up with. One expat EWN reader said, “My family live in Spain so what’s 7 euros. The Visa lasts for three years and I plan to visit Spain plenty of times, so it’s well worth it”.

The European Commission explained that the process will be simple and only take a few minutes to fill in an online form. “The rules entering into force today detail how ETIAS will work with other EU information systems it will query when conducting checks, namely the Entry/Exit System, the Visa Information System, the Schengen Information System and a centralised system for the identification of Member States holding conviction information on non-EU nationals,” said the European commission.

“The set-up of ETIAS forms part of the EU’s ongoing work to put in place a state-of-the-art external border management system and making sure that information systems work together in an intelligent and targeted way.

“ETIAS will not change which non-EU countries are subject to a visa requirement and will also not introduce a new visa requirement for nationals of countries that are visa-exempt.

“Visa-exempt non-EU nationals will only need a few minutes to fill in an online application which in a vast majority of cases (expected to be over 95 percent) will result in automatic approval.

“The process will be simple, fast and affordable: the ETIAS authorisation will cost €7, which will be a one-off fee, and will be valid for three years and for multiple entries.”

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