New date Brits travelling to Spain, France, Italy and…

New date Brits travelling to Spain, France, Italy and Greece will be charged to enter

The EU has announced the new date it will introduce a scheme where British passport holders will be charged for entering Schengen zone countries.

The EU's European Commission has previously confirmed to ChronicleLive that it was aiming to introduce this new scheme, called the ETIAS visa waiver process, either in late 2022 or by May 2023. Now it has been confirmed that the scheme will be launched in November 2023.

From November next year, if all goes to plan, tourists with UK passports will be required to pass an ETIAS security check and pay a fee to enter Schengen Zone countries. These countries include popular tourist hotspots like Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, and the fee will be roughly seven euros - or £6.

An update on the European Commission website states: "ETIAS is expected to be operational in November 2023." The ETIAS, which stands for European Travel Information and Authorisation System, is being introduced for tourists who come from countries who are not in the EU or Schengen area, but do not need to apply for visas to enter.

Since the UK voted to leave the EU in Brexit 2016, it is included in this line-up. EU border control information has stated that: "British nationals, like all travellers coming from visa-exempt countries, will be required to have a valid ETIAS travel authorisation if they travel for a short stay (90 days within a 180 days period).

"British nationals who wish to stay for a longer period must meet the entry requirements according to national or EU migration law, such as visa or residence permit." The ETIAS visa-waiver will not be required for travel to the Republic of Ireland, as it is not in the Schengen area.

The EU says: "The ETIAS Regulation applies to all EU Member States with the exception of Ireland. Nevertheless, when travelling to EU Member States that are not yet part of the Schengen Area (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia and Romania) please check the entry requirements for these countries before you travel as they might differ from country to country."

So, which countries are included in the Schengen zone? There are many EU countries, as well as four non-EU countries. There are EU countries which are not in the Schengen zone but are applying to join, they are included in the list below.