ETIAS Visa Waiver for Travelers from Serbia

Travelers from Serbia in Eastern Europe to the Schengen area will have to travel according to the new demands of the ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) visa waiver system. This new visa waiver will act as an electronic document and will be necessary for all short-term travel to the Schengen area. If after reading this article you still need more information about the ETIAS visa, discover more information at ETIAS.org.

2016, a year when the EU faced unprecedented terror attacks, ended with the EU announcing a new visa waiver system for short-term travel from “safe” nations to the EU. These nations were finalised into 60 ETIAS nations including Serbia, and a launch date of 2021 was planned. The COVID-19 crisis set the system back as administrative workers across Europe were forced to stay home. With the worst of the COVID-19 crisis behind us, the EU has been able to continue its set-up plans and has announced a ETIAS new launch date of January 2023.

Only the Omicron variant could delay the ETIAS system further, with nations across Europe reimplementing restrictions. Aside from this concern, the EU should make the deadline. All AI is in place, and minor staffing issues will extend queues at the border but should not delay the launch of ETIAS.

There are 26 ETIAS countries: Schengen nations, EFTA nations, and de facto states within Schengen nations. They are…

To successfully apply for ETIAS, Serbians must prove they are safe to travel to the Schengen area. This is based on their background, past travel to the EU, and planned travel to Europe. They must accurately answer the questions detailed in this section and have a favourable cross-check with Interpol databases to do so.

To show their safe background, Serbian’s must confirm they have no serious criminal convictions within the 15 years before their planned travel to Europe. The period is understandably longer for terrorist convictions at 25 years. Part of showing a lack of radical militancy is also in confirming the Serbian has not travelled to conflict zones outside of work with the official Serbian military. Finally, illegal immigration and human trafficking are major concerns for Europe, which is currently dealing with major migration crises. In light of this, the Serbian must confirm they have no connections to human trafficking organisations.

Next, Serbians must consider their past activity within EU territory. They must detail any travel to the Schengen area in the past, and show that they behaved legally while there.

Finally, Serbians must prove their planned travel to the Schengen area will be legal and well-natured. They must submit a detailed travel itinerary, including how long they will be in the Schengen area and where they will stay. Serbians must stay within the boundaries of their travel itinerary at all times.

This information is backed by documentation which will show the Serbian has proper Serbian residency and the legal right to travel. They must show a passport and proof of address. Occasionally, additional documentation such as proof of relations to others in their travel party is necessary.

There are a host of reasons that could lead to a Serbian’s application being rejected, based on mistakes when completing the ETIAS application or suspicion that the Serbian poses a danger. Firstly, mistakes that can lead to an ETIAS rejection are…

The more major causes for refusal are ones centered around the suspicion that the applicant is a threat to the EU. These are harder to rectify and are detailed below.

Many of these discrepancies can be cleared up by appealing the rejection. If rejected, the Serbian will receive an email detailing the appeals process. They will find it is in the language of the nation they were trying to enter. The Serbian will have 96 hours to translate the email and fulfill its requests for further information and documentation. Having done so, they must wait four weeks for a response.