Travelers intending to enter the Schengen space have to fill out an easy online application named ETIAS, and to achieve that first of all they will have to have the travel document at hand at the time of completion, usually a passport. In case of not being able to present an ETIAS application personally it may be managed by an authorized person.

Once the ETIAS form is completed with all the required relevant data, a 7€ fee payment screen will pop up.

All applicants of ages between 18 and 70 will have to pay de fee and all other people still have to fill out the form, but they are exempt from paying the fee.

When the payment is done, the ETIAS application is formally submitted online, and the automated assessment process is activated.

The vast majority of all ETIAS applications, about 95% are approved within a few minutes through automatic approval and the final result is communicated to the applicant via email.

If there is a hit in any of the databases, or an automated ETIAS approval is not reached, the application is evaluated manually by the Central Unit of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, or by the team of the member State where the applicant is heading to. This situation can delay the resolution of ETIAS up to 96 hours. In very exceptional circumstances the applicant will be asked for more information and the ETIAS resolution will be reached in approximately 4 weeks from the date of the online submission.

4% out of the 5% of ETIAS applications that had a hit on the databases, are approved by the ETIAS Central Unit after verification of applicant´s information. The remaining 1% is handed over to the ETIAS National Units for manual decision making. The result of the ETIAS application is transmitted to the applicant by email and in the event of a negative result, the reason giving rise to the denial will be informed.