Real ID, ETIAS, + Schengen EES, How New Rules will affect 2025 Travel

The REAL ID is something we all have been hearing about for some time and should not be a surprise. Many felt it was introduced to combat against some of the states that had a little more relaxed policies in handing out IDs. Bringing all states up to speed and aligned with the REAL ID was a necessity.

Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES)

Planning on visiting Europe in 2025? You may need to know a little geography.

The Schengen Area is a border-free zone in Europe that allows people to travel between member countries without going through border controls. We’ve already experienced this freedom, like when we traveled from Malta to Portugal, we didn’t need to go through customs again as we were still in the EU.

The Schengen Area includes:

• All EU countries except Ireland, which has opt-outs
• Four non-EU countries: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein 

The Schengen Area allows more than 400 million people to travel freely. However, there are some restrictions on how long you can stay in the Schengen Area:

• You can stay in the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period
• You must wait an additional 90 days before applying to re-enter the Schengen Area
• The 180-day period keeps “rolling” 

You can check if your stay is within the 90-day limit by:

1. Checking the date you plan to leave the Schengen Area on your next trip
2. Counting back 180 days from that date
3. Adding up the number of days you have already spent in the Schengen Area in that 180-day period
4. Adding up the number of days you will spend in the Schengen Area on your next trip
5. Checking that the total number of days is not more than 90

So you’ll have to know some geography, how to use a calendar, and how to do basic math.  It shouldn’t be too hard. 

But what about this Entry/Exit System (EES) will be different than just showing your passport like we did before? For citizens of non-EU, non-Schengen countries, including the US, EES will mean:

1. Being fingerprinted and photographed the first time you enter the Schengen zone. (In most cases, if everything works as planned, this will be at a “self-service” kiosk — as though surveillance should be considered a “service” to those being surveilled.)
2. Having to submit new fingerprints and mug shots every three years. (This is so that automated facial recognition systems with access to the EES biometric database will have access to sufficiently up-to-date images to recognize all foreigners.)
3. Having each entry to, or exit from, the Schengen zone logged by date, time, location, and, if you enter or exit by air, a link to the complete mirror copy of your airline reservation transmitted by the airline or reservation hosting system and retained in the EU system of linked government databases of PNR copies.  (This PNR-based EU travel surveillance scheme is modeled on the one first implemented in the US sometime before 2006, and which the US has been working to globalize.)

Does this sound too intrusive? Americans may not be used to being handled in such a way at airports. But, for those US citizens who don’t like this, they should be aware that the US first proposed fingerprinting and photographing all foreign visitors in 2006 as part of the US-VISIT program. Fingerprinting all visitors started in 2009. So for those that don’t like mug shots and fingerprinting to enter the Schengen Area, the European countries are emulating with EES what the US started doing fifteen years ago.

ETIAS

The next stage of surveillance and control of visitors to Europe will be the imposition, beginning sometime in mid-2025 (barring further postponements), of  a requirement for “visa-free” visitors to obtain an ETIAS travel authorization before they board a flight, ferry, train, or bus or cross a border on foot or by private vehicle into the Schengen zone.

The European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) is due to launch in mid-2025, which is a push-back from the previously planned 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 launches. This video from 2018 mentioned ETIAS would begin in 2021, but it’s had some postponements. 

An ETIAS or electronic travel authorization, by any name, is essentially an electronic visa. 

ETIAS will allow traditionally visa-exempt visitors to travel to ETIAS member countries, which includes most popular European tourist destinations. The purpose of ETIAS is to help identify security risks posed by visitors. To apply for ETIAS, you can: 

• Visit the ETIAS website 
• Provide personal information, passport details, and travel plans 
• Answer security questions 
• Pay the application fee 
• Receive authorization via email

In the above video, the process was quoted to take 4 days. The ETIAS website now states approval for 95% of applicants will be cleared within minutes, 96 hours if more info is needed, and maybe up to 4 weeks if even more info is needed.

We shall see if these all go live as planned. The Real ID seems like the easiest one to comprehent, to implement, and the most clear for people to meet. With the EES and the ETIAS, we will have to wait and see if they go live as planned this year. For clarification – EES serves as an entry and exit pass, while ETIAS serves as a visa waiver to citizens of third countries. The EES initiative records every migration in the external Schengen area borders. 

Questions for you –

• Do you think these will be easy to meet?
• Have you had any horror stories in meeting international regulations?
• Should there be just a simple worldwide program instead of multiple programs like Global Entry, EES, etc?

Sources: PapersPlease.org  ,  ETIAS.com   ,  Schengen.News