Brits heading to the EU on holiday will not need to start paying for entry until 2024 at the earliest.
Over the weekend the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs at the European Commission in Brussels quietly changed the launch date of the Etias scheme.
The 'eurovisa' - which will cost £6 - was due to go live at the end of 2023, but now that date has been pushed back to 2024.
It is not the first time that the date has slipped back, suggesting that it could be moved again.
When it is fully functional, people from outside the 27 EU countries and wider Schengen area will have to register online and pay for a three year permit.
Under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the UK government negotiated for British citizens to be subject to the Etias rules, having helped design it while part of the bloc.
Every visitor entering the designated countries will have to have their fingerprints and facial biometrics checked on arrival and departure.
Travellers will need to scan their passports or other travel documents at an automated self-service kiosk prior to crossing the border.
Preparations include the installation of passport-reading machines at external points of the Schengen Area that will replace manual passport stamping.
European Commission’s department for Migration and Home Affairs said: "EES will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow a systematic detection of overstayers."
The system will log the following information for every traveller:
- Facial image
- Surname or family name
- First name or given names
- Date and place of birth
- Nationality or nationalities
- Gender
- Passport number, date and country of issuance as well as the expiry date
- Valid ETIAS or Schengen visa along with its duration and/or validity
- Travel information including the visitor’s points and dates of entries and exits, as well as overstays within the Schengen Zone
- Fingerprints
The 27 Schengen countries include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
