ETIAS Visa Waiver for Travelers from Barbados

Barbados has been selected as one of the 60 nations set to join the ETIAS visa waiver system, allowing entrance to the Schengen nations without a full visa. ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System), will fundamentally change how Barbadians can holiday, travel through, and work in the Schengen zone for short periods. It comes into effect at the start of 2023, and Barbadians are expected to make the usual arrangements until then.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place and terrorism is a growing threat. Take the situation in Afghanistan for example, a group still considered terrorists by many now leads an entire nation. The ETIAS visa waiver aims to tackle these threats by making better decisions on who is allowed to enter the EU. It will use Interpol data alongside the applications to find threats before they can enter the Schengen area. It is hoped that this visa will make the EU a safer place.

No ETIAS visa waiver is needed for Barbadians who do not want to visit within the Schengen area. These include EU nations like Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as non-EU nations in Europe who are not part of the Schengen agreement.

Barbadians will have to arrange legal transit and travel in these areas as per normal. Barbadians should go to the local representative of the nation they want to go to, to learn what visa is going to be required.

The ETIAS visa will be needed for Barbadians to travel for business, medical access, or pleasure to all of the Schengen and de facto Schengen states. The 22 Schengen states in the EU that the ETIAS visa waiver will give Barbadians access to are (Finland, Portugal, Malta, Slovenia, Greece, Belgium, Italy, France, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, Luxembourg, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands, Estonia, and the Czech Republic). ETIAS also includes Schengen states that are not in the EU: Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Iceland.

The de facto Schengen states that Barbadians can access with their ETIAS visa are the micro-states held within Schengen nations. These are Vatican City and San Marino in Italy, and Monaco in France.

All Barbadians will need an ETIAS visa waiver, regardless of age or purpose of travelling. Although this means that ETIAS visa waivers need to be arranged for the under-18s and over-70s, these Barbadians will not have to pay an application fee. The only circumstance when a Barbadian will not need an ETIAS visa waiver is if they are planning on staying in the Schengen area for more than 90 days. These Barbadians will have to arrange a longer-term visa.

Filling out the ETIAS application online form is easy. Some legally implicating information is required, like illegal drug use, past and current employment, previous visits to Europe, and more importantly terrorism connections, travel to conflict areas, and connections to human trafficking. However, most of the inquiries are basic, such as the applicant’s name, current address, birthdate and birthplace, travel itinerary, and their parents’ information.

In terms of documentation, most Barbadians will only need a passport, an address, and a credit or debit card. Some Barbadians may find that they need more documentation if there are issues with their application, though this should not affect many Barbadians.

The ETIAS system should be fast, processing applications in one business day, and most applicants will be successful. Similar programs have seen acceptance rates of 95%. If more documentation is needed without the application being refused, the application will still be fast at up to three working days.

Once they have been awarded the ETIAS visa waiver, Barbadians can make one trip of up to 90 days into the Schengen area, and they can make this trip any time in the three years after being awarded it.

The EU has planned three main reasons that an ETIAS application will be rejected. They are lies on the application, Interpol flagging up issues with an applicant or worries about what the applicant has stated they are planning on doing in the Schengen area.

When an ETIAS visa waiver application is rejected, it will not necessarily never be accepted. Usually, the matter can be cleared up with lots more documentation. The decision is moved to the receiving nation and they have four weeks to make a decision.

For the minority of applicants who have their applications totally rejected, only two options remain. Either they can apply for a full visa as if they were travelling for longer, or they can decide not to visit the Schengen area.