€5 to get into Europe

Commission to unveil European version of US ESTA visa waiver scheme.

Non-EU citizens wanting to travel to the Schengen zone without a visa would have to pay a fee of €5, according to a European Commission proposal to be unveiled Wednesday, EU officials said.

The Commission wants to set up a European version of the U.S.’s ESTA system that allows citizens of certain countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa, for a fee of $14.

The proposed European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) would cost €5 per application and last for five years.

“It will be cheap and easy for visa-free travelers, but it will be a robust deterrent for those who are not,” Dimitris Avramopoulos, the migration commissioner, told POLITICO.

“Our external relations will be boosted through a strengthening of our visa liberalization policy. ETIAS will ensure that Europe can remain both open and secure at the same time,” he said.

The final decision to grant or refuse entry will still be taken by national border officials but ETIAS will be managed by the new European Border and Coast Guard agency in cooperation with member states and Europol.

Applications will be submitted via a website, or a mobile app, with the information checked against other EU information systems (including Europol and Interpol’s databases and Eurodac’s fingerprint database).

The Commission said the travel authorization will be issued automatically within minutes of the application being submitted.