These changes to visa rules are going to affect visitors to Europe | Times of Oman

These changes to visa rules are going to affect visitors to Europe | Times of Oman

Muscat: A new visa system for Europe’s Schengen countries is set to be rolled out in May 2023, as part of long-standing changes being made to better regulate the arrival of people into the Schengen Zone.

The new system, called the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) aims to strengthen security checks on those persons who travel visa-free to the EU, currently nationals from over 60 countries.

However, people from countries that currently require a Schengen Visa will still be required to apply for one before travelling to the EU.

“The ETIAS authorisation is not a visa,” said a memo issued by the Directorate General for Communication of the European Commission. “Nationals of visa liberalisation countries will continue to travel the EU without a visa but will simply be required to obtain a travel authorisation via ETIAS prior to their travel. ETIAS will be a simple, fast and visitor-friendly system, which will, in more than 95 percent of cases, result in a positive answer within a few minutes.

“An ETIAS travel authorisation does not reintroduce visa-like obligations,” added the memo. “There is no need to go to a consulate to make an application, no biometric data is collected and significantly less information is