What happens if I’m rejected for an Etias – and can I appeal?

After more details of the upcoming European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) visa waiver scheme were released last week, questions remain about how it will work in practice.

From spring 2025, most Britons – and other people without an EU passport – travelling to 30 countries in the EU will have to pay €7 (about £6) for an Etias in order to enter the bloc. People under 18 or over 70 will be exempt from paying the fee.

It’s set to launch six months after the delayed EES – the Entry/Exit System for travel to Europe – which the EU has confirmed will come into force on 10 November.

Critics have now raised concerns as to how the Etias will actually work and, specifically, if the system will discriminate against people with a criminal record, or those, such as some journalists and aid workers, who have travelled to conflict zones or countries considered as “enemies of the state”.

It could also be interpreted from the information available that, if a person is rejected for the Etias, they then won’t be able to access a visa at all.

Speaking to the European Commission, i was not offered clear answers to all of these concerns, but some clarity was provided.

How will the Etias work for people with more complex backgrounds?

It is understood that the Etias application form will ask travellers to provide personal information, such as their name, address, passport details and occupation.

It will also contain questions about past travel to conflict zones or criminal convictions; nevertheless, every application for an Etias travel authorisation will be assessed, taking into account the individual circumstances among a variety of factors.

Although applications for the Etias are not yet open, the questions specified on the EU’s website appear to be similar to those asked when applying for a Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA), which Britons need to enter the United States – if they don’t have a visa.

As well as confirming basic, personal information, Etias applicants will be required to answer questions such as “Have you been convicted in the last 15 years of one or more of the criminal offences listed below? [ranging from murder to armed robbery]” and “Have you been convicted in the last 25 years for terrorist offences?”

The extensive list of offences covered by the Etias guidance are those included in the EU’s Directive on combating terrorism; terrorism is one of the reasons given by the EU for the implementation of the scheme.

In another section, particularly pertinent to aid workers and journalists, there are questions about stays in war or conflict zones, although the EU has yet to lay out which destinations are currently considered “problematic”.

Applicants must also answer questions on whether they have been required to leave – or have been removed from – an EU member state over the past decade.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told i that “if someone needs to travel for humanitarian reasons or to fulfil important obligations, they may request an ETIAS travel authorisation with limited validity.”

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What happens if I’m refused an Etias?

On the official EU website, there is information about individual travellers’ right to appeal against a refusal of the travel authorisation.

A spokesperson for the European Commission explained: “If someone receives a decision that the Etias application was refused, it will include the reasons for the refusal.

“It will also provide information about the procedure to follow to appeal.”

However, they added that it will come down to the individual country which refused the application.

“It will be a question for the respective Member State as the Commission does not comment on individual cases,” the spokesperson said.

Despite this, Statewatch, an organisation that monitors civil liberties in the EU, has dug deeper into how an Etias refusal would work in practice.

“Even if someone has been convicted of one of those offences, or travelled to one of the listed war or conflict areas, it doesn’t necessarily mean their application will be automatically refused,” Chris Jones, the director of Statewatch, told i.

“All applications will at first be assessed by an algorithm/AI tools to assess the risk they pose; those that are flagged as a potential risk then have to be assessed by an official in one of the Etias National Units, hosted by each member state,” he added.

“They are responsible for taking a decision on whether to issue an authorisation or not; they can also ask for more documentation or request that the applicant attends an interview.”

Etias rules state that these interviews should only be conducted in “exceptional circumstances”, “as a last resort” and “when serious doubts remain regarding the information or documentation provided by the applicant”.

The EU claims that this means that “the exceptional nature of interviews should lead to less than 0.1 per cent of applicants being invited to an interview,” and that “the number of applicants invited to an interview should be subject to regular review by the Commission.”

What are the concerns surrounding the Etias rejection process?

Despite this, there are worries that the EU is not being transparent enough about how these refusals would work.

“As well as having to hand over all this information, travellers will have to deal with longer waiting times at borders and will face the risk of being flagged as a “risk” by an algorithm. EU officials are currently devising new ‘screening rules’ that will be used to decide who is a security, immigration or health risk,” Statewatch’s Chris Jones told i.

“These rules will reinforce the existing racist and discriminatory profiling that takes place at borders. It is urgent that people know their rights so that they can challenge unjust decisions or treatment,” he added.

“While travellers will face inconvenience, invasive data-gathering and profiling, the real beneficiaries of these new systems are police and border forces, alongside the corporations developing and maintaining the databases, who are receiving hundreds of millions of Euros in public money,” Mr Jones said.

The UK is developing its own system, similar to the Etias. With all the confusion surrounding the EU’s initiative, Mr Jones suggests the UK “would be wise to follow a different path”.