Travel Regulation Updates: Europe - 2024/2025

ETIAS EES & Other Travel Changes

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[00:00:16] Nasreen: Welcome back to another episode of Time to Talk Travel. This week We are talking about something that is going to impact travel to Europe and other areas next year. We're learning this with you. This is new. We're going to talk about what you need to do to get to Europe next year, what's different, what piece of paperwork you're going to need that's extra.

Des, is fresh off of a travel writer conference and heard about it first hand- what is the one biggest thing that's changing next year and then we'll trickle into everything else.

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Essentially, you will not be able to enter any country included in this ETIAS pact without having this special authorization. It does not replace your passport, you'll still need a passport.

And there are countries where you'll still need a visa. This is for the countries where American residents go to visit and don't need a visa to visit. You'll need this now. And you won't be able to get on a plane without it. It's supposed to be very quick and easy, but In some cases, there may be a hiccup where it might take you two weeks.

In some cases, it's going to require you to actually go in and do an interview and that could take up to 30 days. So it's not something you want to joke around with.

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There's this new thing that I have to pay for, this extra piece of paper they want for me. They're going to make more money off the tourists. Right? But this is instituted as a security measure for them. And so, when Des is saying that you may have to go in and interview based on your initial filling in of this and not being able to get it right away, it's because this new ETIAS is the European Travel Information and Authorization System, and it's designed to prevent security incidents.

So we know there's been some issues in recent years, we talked about it on an episode about travel advisories and warnings. In an effort to better regulate who is coming over, there's a group of about 30 countries that are going to do this additional step. So if you have something that flags in your background or when you're filling this out, It may kick you to another level of screening in order to get this piece of paper, this visa.

It's gonna be about 7. 50 a person from everything I saw and kids under 18 and I think adults over 70 are exempt. It lasts for three years and it's good for trips of up to 90 days.

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The woman in charge of PR for this spoke at the travel conference I was at and she said they found one website where people were charging $90 for it. You don't have to pay. You can do this on your own. Now if you don't want to bother with it you can hire someone to handle it for you. but it's super simple. This is not a complicated thing. It's not something where they're trying to get rich. Seven euros is less than lunch in a lot of places.

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[00:04:02] Desiree: Right, and it expires when your passport expires or under three years. My passport is going to be up in two years, so when I renew my passport, have to renew my ETIAS. Otherwise, if your passport's good for another five years, you're good for three.

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The expectation would be to get this in advance so that you can then put in those numbers and know you have them when you're booking plane tickets for travel after May. If your passport is expiring, maybe start that renewal sooner rather than later if it's going to expire before that trip because that approval is going to be tied to that passport number.

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eu, EUROPA. E U. That's the legit one.

They said they have already seen, I think they had 106 websites already, that they have seen , that are collecting people's passport numbers, names, all of your personal information. Every single one of those is fraudulent. Every single one of them. Don't fall for it, don't fall for it, don't fall for it. Because they're going to take your information and then God help you.

Once your passport number is shared with somebody else, it's so easy for someone to run with all of your identity, your information, and then you really will be banned. It's bad. It'd be very hard to be refused, but they will tell you why. And again, it is supposed to be processed in minutes but that does not mean waiting until you're boarding your plane in order to apply for it because you may just be booted right out the door.

So, it's important.

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It is just something to put on your list and ask about. Make sure travel agents are on top of it. Make sure you're aware of who's doing it if you're utilizing a tour company or a cruise line.

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I hadn't heard about it yet. And I don't feel like I have my head stuck in the sand in any way, but I just hadn't been paying attention. I've been back in Europe twice a year for the last three years. It is important. I do know that going to Europe and Mo, you could tell me if this has been the case for you, but flying back and forth. It's been a very different process, even at different airports in different countries. Going through customs in one country is a two hour long wait, and then in the next one, you breeze right through with just the biometrics they, I didn't even have to show people anything.

That's starting in August of: 2024

That one is a new electronic system that replaces the physical stamping of your passport, which makes me kind of sad because I went to a lot of countries last year and I didn't get a lot of stamps.

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At least track you somehow that you've been to these countries because it is kind of cool to look back. I always keep my passport too. You can ask them to return it because yeah, it's kind of fun. A useless thing I'll keep in a drawer.

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I've seen people take the pages out and put them in frames . It is interesting because it does tell you that you no longer are invisible. Once you go through, you watch all the Bourne Identity movies where they track you. They absolutely can track you now.

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This is the next level for next year. But even if you're looking to go to Europe this summer or this fall make sure that you've checked the rules. Even just per country the process could be a little bit different for what they're looking for from you and how long you have left on your passport.

I think it's supposed to be three months past your period of stay. So three months after you come back, it still needs to be good. Most people for general rules say six months. This poor woman, I can't remember. Her passport had something to do with that, that it was an older passport .

So there were a few things that she had running against her not having done her homework and the rest of her family went on the plane and she was unable to, and there's nothing worse than, than that.

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And they like to stamp in the middle. They won't just do the next page. They'll just pick a random page somewhere in the middle or towards the end, which if you don't have a lot of pages left can kind of mess you up if you don't have enough pages after that. So that was a very strange one that I had not been aware of.

One of the things I will mention for all of this is we always talk about travel insurance and the importance of having it and how it protects you . While travel insurance can protect you and help you if your passport is lost or stolen, it is going to assume that you are following the rules and you have done things right.

So if all of a sudden you can't get on a flight or go on a vacation because you didn't get the right visa and couldn't get it in time, they're not going to cover the cost of that missed trip because you didn't follow procedure. It's extra important when you're buying travel insurance to make sure you're doing things the right way and giving yourself enough time.

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I was booking her flight from Atlanta to Europe, but she was booking to Atlanta because she wanted to fly with all of us. The next day she goes, Oh, you know, I didn't think about this, but on my flight , I booked with my name. You needed that, right?

Yeah, absolutely. It has to match the passport. In this case, I had used Virgin Atlantic Reward Points which booked us on a KLM flight. I had to call Virgin Atlantic, sat on hold for an hour, and they said, Sorry, we need to get through to KLM because we have to change through them. It's after hours for them, you're gonna have to call back tomorrow. For real, now it's gonna be another hour wait. Did it again the next morning, and in that case they were like, Oh, nope, sorry, send us her change of name.

It wasn't a change of name. It was just a mistake. We used a nickname, not an official name. And it was an act of God to get it changed. No joke, I had to have her send a picture of her driver's license, her passport. It was my error and it was within 24 hours.

In all honesty, I could have just canceled the flight, but I didn't want to risk losing the reward miles. This is a whole chapter in my book coming out on the airport, true tales from the terminal. There are so many times when people book the wrong airport or the wrong day because in Europe you know, 7 -10 in America is July 10th, but in Europe, that's October 7th.

Dot those I's, cross those T's and check your name . It's got to match perfectly or you will not be going anywhere.

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My dad and mom were traveling to Australia from Houston and realized that there was a typo in his name. It was a very expensive mistake because they had to cancel a ticket and he had to rebuy it.

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Who typed it wrong?

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Then it happened with my daughter, who was flying with her grandmother to Canada, from Houston to Toronto. I had booked her flight over the phone because If I book online, she was going to be on an unaccompanied minor, which is going to charge me 150. But she wasn't going to be unaccompanied. She was traveling with her grandmother who already had a reservation.

Long story short, that guy who I was speaking to on the phone put her in as Starlet instead of Scarlet. They were thankfully able to put a note on the file saying for the other airline that it was their error and to just check her ID again when they checked in. And she was fine.

But double check everything before you go. There is a margin of human error. Also let your friends know your real names. That's a good one.

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It was on me. I had no issue sitting on hold. I multitask while I'm on hold. I didn't want her to lose the grand or me to lose the grand. You never know when they go, oops, sorry it's one minute past when you booked it last night.

Too bad for you.

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That wouldn't affect me going in, but it will affect me bringing them back. one of my three dogs is not microchipped and it's kind of gray on what that rule is when I look online. I have an appointment at 4: 30 to go get him microchipped. That and their rabies shots. They have to be six months old.

You can't bring a puppy into the U S so don't take a puppy out. That could really screw up your day if you're trying to get back into the country.

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[00:15:27] Maureen: As of August 1st this year, yeah.

That would have had me scrambling to at the border to find somewhere to get the dog microchipped. I usually always travel with their rabies papers, and then I've got a copy of their other vaccinations, but it's kind of at the border patrols discretion., if you're traveling this summer after August 1st from anywhere outside the U. S. , often people are bringing dogs rescues in from outside the country. So, have to be older than 6 months, I believe microchipped, and at least have rabies. I guess rabies has increased, especially in other countries, so they don't want it coming back.

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And this electronic system, they have a place for you to go online and see how many days you have left. And I think some people have skated very close if they've been going back and forth or doing a digital nomad thing and going between different countries. This is gonna electronically calculate and Know how many days you have left and whether that matches up with your flight.

Definitely be utilizing their website to check how many days they think you have left. So if there is a discrepancy, you deal with it ahead of time and you're not suddenly having to buy a last minute flight to get out of there three days before you thought you had to get out of there.

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They go for 90 days and they leave for one and then they go back. So interesting.

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[00:17:09] Desiree: Mo, I wanna go back to you, just casually mentioning, yeah, I'm driving to Canada this weekend, as if it's a two hour journey.

Mo lives in Texas, guys. Like, way down near Houston, yeah? Yeah. I mean,

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yeah.

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[00:17:27] Maureen: It's gonna be like 22.

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[00:17:30] Maureen: Yeah, it's actually almost a perfect triangle from

Houston to Toronto, Toronto to Miami, Miami to Houston. It's almost

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[00:17:41] Nasreen: It took me 28! For when I was in Texas. I don't even know how that's possible. How is Canada closer?

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[00:17:54] Desiree: Just getting from Miami outside the state of Florida is nine hours.

That's just crazy to me that you're doing.

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[00:18:04] Desiree: Is it going to take longer to go from Miami to Houston than it is Houston to Canada?

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[00:18:18] Desiree: You are the road, road trip queen.

You get, you get a medal for that.

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[00:18:36] Desiree: Singapore,

Singapore, like

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Yeah.

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[00:18:42] Maureen: I don't know where I'll be doing the next podcast from, but I'll pack my mic

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[00:18:53] Maureen: With my daughter and three dogs.

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[00:18:57] Maureen: I'll hit Atlanta on the way to Miami one time with a little.

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[00:19:04] Maureen: Exactly.

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We were talking before the podcast about meeting up in Italy. No joke. Yeah, we might make that happen, but.

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The Ancestry sites are interesting because they tell you where you're from related to other people, right? But there is another site called MyHeritage that reads your Ancestry results and then tells you who you're actually most like now in the common day. Because things change over time. So , think about it, my husband grew up thinking he was German. He wasn't actually German because the area of Germany that they were from wasn't Germany when they were from it.

Ancestrally, it's a different area but over time it's changed and that area of Germany now matches him. My Italian really flowed through into the current matches and it was suggesting little sites for me to go see and things to do that were related to my DNA and it was really interesting.

That's a whole episode when we dive into that one.

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That was never mentioned by any ancestor anywhere. Although my name is Desiree. All the royal women in Sweden get Desiree as a middle name, which isn't that random? Desiree to me is as French as it comes, right? Desiree to be desired. But when I go to Italy and Croatia, that feels like home.

Ireland didn't feel like home. Italy, I feel like I'm in my zone. Croatia, the same. I just, it feels like home.

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So it's Greek, Italian, Albanian, Macedonian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Kosovar, and Romania. And only a couple of those are in my genetic makeup, but because I'm from populations that moved around, or went to other places, I'm most like the people who are there.

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[00:21:32] Nasreen: But yeah, so anyway, back to passports, because we did not touch on one thing, which was that there is a beta renewal system online now. They're only releasing a certain number of slots every day and you have to meet criteria.

Your passport has to be from within the last 10 years, it can't have been from when you were under 18. You can't be a minor when you're doing the online renewal. But if your passport is valid and you need a renewal, you can try and snag one of the online spots, which means you don't have to send everything in and have an appointment that does not exist for you.

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Did not pay for expediting.

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[00:22:22] Nasreen: It makes sense because it takes out the labor aspect of it, right? Because otherwise you have to go somewhere. You have to get an appointment with someone. You got to send everything off. It has to go through the mail. It has to be processed. And then they were divvying up.

Let's say you applied in New England, but the passport processing center in Houston had extra time for some reason, they would ship your stuff to wherever. It wasn't necessarily geographically close to you. It was based on who had the bandwidth to deal with it. And so now that takes Bandwidth, manpower hours out of it, and all of a sudden it can all be done online.

I mean, how hard is it to check some basic information when, like Mo says, the government already knows it all? So it should be great for people who need that faster processing.

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[00:23:13] Desiree: I will tell you the secret on that one, because it is impossible to get the appointment to be interviewed for Global Entry.

I couldn't get one for over a year when I was applying, a year and a half ago. I did get an email that said, the next time you land, you can do an appointment. You could just walk into the office right outside the Customs gate. I did that at JFK. Walked in, walked out in less than 10 minutes and had my appointment done. Even though you won't have it on the way for that European vacation you can knock out the interview and then you'll have it for your next trip.

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[00:23:52] Desiree: I only had pre-check. Now I have global entry and I cannot wait to use it.

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[00:24:15] Desiree: Good to know. Good to know. Look at us covering all the bases. The dogs, the EES, ETIAS

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I mean, come on! Yeah, yeah.

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[00:24:56] Nasreen: I believe in them. I believe it's coming.

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[00:24:59] Maureen: I believe they will be tracking everything soon. They just gotta figure it out.

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[00:25:15] Desiree: Happy travels.

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