By the website of EU-LISA, international carriers, sea carriers, and air carriers transporting groups overlanding by coach are now eligible for registering for the EES (Entry/Exit System) and ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System). According to the European Agency for the Operational Management of large-scale IT systems (EU-LISA) in the Area of Justice, Security, and Freedom, the registration will permit the carriers to get the required information for preparing for these 2 systems. For further information, you should check the requirements. We will be discussing about the registration for ETIAS and EES for international carriers that can be applied for through the website of EU-LISA.
Which carriers are allowed?
The transport carriers that are permitted for EES and ETIAS are as follows:
- International carriers transporting groups overland by coach
- Sea carriers
- Air carriers
They can apply for the same through the website of eu-LISA. This will allow the carriers to perform queries in the European Union IT systems prior to their transportation of passengers to the member states of Schengen. They are obliged to do so based on the EU legislation.
EES and ETIAS
The Entry-exit system is an automated system of IT that allows the travellers from 3rd countries to register. This includes both visa-exempt travellers as well as short-stay visa holders and is applicable for every time they cross the external border of the EU. The present manual system of stamping passports will be replaced by the EES and it is likely to happen post summer of the next year.
The ETIAS is an automated IT system that is formed for identifying high epidemic risks, irregular migration, or security risks posed by travellers that are exempted from visa who visit the states of the Schengen Area. Therefore, the travellers who are not nationals of the EU that do not require a short-stay visa for travelling to this area will be required to apply for the authorisation of travelling by the ETIAS system before beginning their journey. It is most likely to come into effect from the spring of 2023.
EU Laws and ETIAS/EES
For making sure that the obligations are fulfilled based on Article 26 of the Convention that implements the Schengen Agreement, considering the entry into existence of ETIAS and EES, carriers will be required to utilise a carrier interface for verifying prior to boarding if the non-EU nationals who require a visa holding the visa of a short-stay have utilised the number of entries that their visa authorises. This will also include the exhaustion of the number of days of stay. These carriers are also required to verify if the visa-exempt non-EU nationals have a valid ETIAS travel authorisation. Further, carriers are required to register with the EU-LISA and follow mentioned procedures and instructions for connecting and being able to utilise the carrier interface.
What’s more?
The previous week, it was found out that about 1.4 billion visitors from over 60 European Union visa-exempted countries will be needed to register for the ETIAS prior to entering any of these nations. Nations such as Serbia, Ukraine, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are included in this list of nations as well.
It is expected that by the end of the next year, the system of ETIAS will entirely be in operation and Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency) has employed about 41 employees more for the Central Unit of the ETIAS. Presently, there are 28 handlers of the ETIAS application, 11 traveller and carrier support operators, and 2 team leaders among the newly hired employees. The Agency expects that the number of employees who work in the central unit of ETIAS will augment to 200 by the time the IT system is entirely in effect.
In order to register, the carriers will be required to fill the forms electronically and send these to the EU-LISA. In the beginning of the next year, the law of EU needs the airlines to confer with the ETIAS and EES regarding the passengers’ status before they board the plane for their departure to the Schengen Area.
Based on a press release by the Agency, the registration will permit the carriers to obtain all kind of information needed for preparing the business process as well as respective systems for consulting the EU IT systems that are managed by the EU-LISA. This is because the latter is regulated in the ETIAS and EES law.
For beginning with the procedure of registration, the carriers are required to fill a form provided online on the website of EU-LISA and mail it to their email ID. In fact, more information regarding the same is also available on their website for all the carriers to help them with the process.