Illustration of a laptop at a dusk departure lounge with a half-loaded ring of stars on screen, a blue passport on the desk and a hook with a card dangling from a line, while a plane takes off outside

Immigration 1 November 2026

Paid for an ETIAS already? The EU isn't taking applications yet

The official EU site still says ETIAS is not operating and collects no applications, and that the start date will be announced several months ahead. Meanwhile sites charging for the authorisation keep multiplying. What to know before you pay anyone anything.

If someone has charged you for an ETIAS, the online travel authorisation the EU plans to require of visa-free visitors, it wasn’t the EU. As of 1 November 2026 the official ETIAS website still states plainly that the system is not in operation and that no applications are being collected.

The same page makes a promise that says a lot about the timing: the EU will announce the start date “several months” before launch. With two months of 2026 left and no date announced, you can do the maths. ETIAS is not starting this year, as looked likely back in July.

Why this matters now

Because the lack of a launch date has not stopped anyone selling it. Frontex, the EU border agency, has already flagged more than a hundred unofficial ETIAS websites, some claiming to accept applications. The risks it lists run from inflated fees to identity theft, since the form asks for exactly what a fraudster wants: name, address, passport, card.

By mid-October the UK travel association ABTA was putting the number of such sites above 150. Many copy the look of the EU site and use “etias” in their domain names.

Before you pay anything

The only official address is the European Commission’s, europa.eu/etias. Anything else is, at best, a middleman.
Once it launches, ETIAS costs €20. Under-18s and over-70s pay no fee.
Right now there is nothing to apply for. A site offering to “process” your ETIAS is charging for a document that does not exist yet.

Who will need one, and who won’t

ETIAS is for citizens of visa-exempt countries visiting 30 European countries for short stays of up to 90 days. For Portugal, that means tourists and family visitors from Brazil, the United States, the UK or Canada, among others.

EU citizens don’t need it. Nor do people already living in Portugal on a valid residence permit. The same goes for the Entry/Exit System, the other half of this border overhaul, as our guide to the EES explains.

If you have already paid one of these sites, keep the receipts, ask your bank about reversing the charge and consider reporting it. If you are travelling in early 2027, there is nothing to do for now except wait for the official announcement.

By Juliana Castilho

Illustration: Tugadaily

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