Filenews 21/9
Third-country nationals will pass through the sieve of Interpol and the European Union and if there are reasons why they should not travel to other Member States, then they will not be issued with a travel authorisation. Both air carriers and sea carriers will be involved in the whole process, which will have to verify whether third-country nationals are actually in possession of a valid travel authorisation.
The aim of this new approach is to prevent illegal immigration, protect public health and reduce delays at borders, and the government has already submitted a bill to Parliament. This move is part of the implementation of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2018.
The aim of the regulation, which will be passed through the bill, is to identify persons who may pose a risk in one of the above areas (preventing illegal immigration, protecting public health and reducing delays at borders) before they reach the external borders.
The above will also pass through the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and will apply to third-country nationals who do not require an entry visa. Before travelling, these persons should obtain a travel authorisation by submitting an online application. The information submitted with each application will be checked in an automated manner in EU and Interpol databases to determine whether there are grounds for refusing a travel authorisation.
Where the search does not report a hit or no other elements requiring further analysis are found, the travel authorisation will be issued automatically and immediately. As stated in the accompanying text of the bill, this is expected to be the case with most applications. Whenever a hit is found or an element requiring analysis is identified, the request will be sent to the competent authorities for manual processing within 96 hours of the submission of the request or, where additional information is requested, within 96 hours of receipt of such information.
As already mentioned above, before boarding, air and sea carriers will be required to verify whether third-country nationals requiring a travel authorisation are in fact in possession of a valid travel authorisation. The travel authorisation does not confer an automatic right of entry or stay and the final decision is taken by the border authorities.
Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 also aims to define the conditions under which Member States’ designated authorities and Europol may derive information from data stored in the ETIAS Central System for the purposes of preventing, detecting and investigating terrorist offences or other serious criminal offences falling within their competence
NB The ETIAS requirement is likely to apply from around June 2024. If you have biometric residency it is understood that you will not need to apply. If you have the yellow slip for your residency, then you will need to apply for an ETIAS — this will be done online, is likely to be valid for 3 years or until expiry of your passport, whichever comes first. A fee of €7pp will apply but it will be free to those 70+