ETIAS Visa Waiver for Travelers from the Solomon Islands

Around 200 million tourists visit Europe every year, and the Solomon Islands can count many of its citizens within this number. However, residents of this Oceanic Island nation will find that their trips to Europe from 2023 will be complicated when the ETIAS visa waiver system is implemented in 2023. For all short-term travel into the Schengen and EFTA areas, Solomon Islanders must follow the new requirements of the European Travel Information and Authorization System.

Previous to the ETIAS visa waiver's inception, the Solomon Islands was on the EU’s “white list.” This means that their citizens could visit the Schengen area for short-term travel without a visa or visa waiver. When ETIAS 2023 comes, the situation will change, and Solomon Islanders will need a valid visa waiver to travel to the Schengen area. With an ETIAS visa waiver, Solomon Islanders may travel to the 26 Schengen states detailed below.

Sadly, not all Solomon Islanders can access these rights by applying for ETIAS. Around 5% will have their applications rejected for all manner of reasons. A list can be found below.

Avoiding these common reasons for rejection requires Solomon Islanders to submit the following documentation, most of which they should have access to already.

This basic documentation will normally be enough, but sometimes the EU will feel the need to rectify minor discrepancies by requesting the Solomon Islander supply additional documentation. They will inform the Solomon Islander exactly what this documentation is via email, and the applicant will have ten days to supply it.

Solomon Islanders will also have to supply additional documentation if their application has been rejected. The request will likely be substantially more rigorous, aiming to gain documentation that draws a holistic picture of the Solomon Islander’s life. They will have 96 hours to complete the request and should expect four-week-long delays to their application for every appeal.

If more ETIAS visa requirements, it is also likely that the Solomon Islander will need an interview with ETIAS staff for their application to be accepted. This is an opportunity for the Solomon Islander to explain any discrepancies that the EU has found, and they are urged to take it. Failure to attend the interview will guarantee a rejection in most cases.

The EU will explain the need for an interview in an email, and it will usually be scheduled within 72 hours of the Solomon Islander submitting their application.

Despite the chances of an interview being required, the documentation side of the ETIAS application is the basic aspect of it. All Solomon Islanders will be asked the same array of questions for their application, and they must consider their answers properly. Their answers will constitute most of the decision that is made about how safe they are as a traveler, and it is of paramount importance that they answer truthfully. Discrepancies between answers and Interpol databases during the AI-assisted cross-reference will lead to a rejection in most cases.

To discover how safe the Solomon Islander is as a traveler, the EU will ask for details on their criminal, terrorist, militant and human trafficking past while home in the Solomon Islanders. They will then assess if the Solomon Islander has acted appropriately in Europe in the past, by asking for detail on past trips to Europe. This will allow the EU to learn if the Solomon Islander did anything illegal while travelling previously.