For those planning a holiday in Europe, at some point in time during 2025, the new Entry/Exit System (EES) and, for visa-exempt countries like the UK, the European Travel Information and Authorised System (ETIAS) which will be mandatory for Non EU visitors, are expected to be finally launched. The latest (non-UK provided Government) information about ETIAS can be found here, https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en and EES here, https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees_en. Both links have multiple pages to explain why, who it affects and what you need to do, when both systems eventually become live. As far as I can find, the EES is free and the ETIAS will cost 7€ (free if you are under 18 and over 70). The ETIAS is valid for 3 years or the life of your passport, whichever is the LEAST and an EES is required for EVERY short term entry (up to a total of 90 days in 180 days from the first visit). If you only hold a UK passport, the cumulative maximum stay of up to 90 days in 180 days, is no different to today. Your passport MUST be valid for MORE than 3 months from your planned EXIT date and it CANNOT be valid for MORE than 10 years from the date of issue. If you still have a burgundy coloured EU/UK passport, this restriction will likely affect you. If you have a dark blue UK passport, it is unlikely to. To round off my research, I must mention the Spanish Royal Decree 933/2021, which came into force 02/12/2024 and requires the collection of (17 pieces) personal information from visitors staying in most types of holiday accommodation and/or renting a car. This fairly negative article, will give you the gist, https://www.businesstravelnewseurop...arn-over-enforcement-of-Spain-s-new-data-rule. Happy holidays Andy
This has been in the pipeline for a while now, another consequence of the sunny uplands we were told we’d be headed to.
For those travelling to Spain, this article, https://www.civitfun.com/blog/en/spanish-royal-decree-guide/, which is actually aimed at the accommodation provider, has details of the 17 pieces of personal information you will be asked to provide. I’m also finding a fair bit of conflicting information about the possible need to provide credit card and bank account details which is not to be part of the decree. I read an article that claims travellers might/can/will be asked to provide evidence of where the funding for their trip is coming from. This might because of confusion over a longer standing requirement for travellers to prove they have sufficient funds for their stay (currently 90€/person/day) IF asked at your point of entry. So far, and I’ve visited Spain multiple times over the last 3 years, I have never been asked to provide this information. As could have been expected, the registration web site set up by the Spanish government for entering all the data, was reported to have crashed at 1 minute to midnight on the day before it went live. Andy
