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Travelling through Germany I see there is an extensive list of countries allowed to use the e-passport gates including USA, Japan, Australia. But UK excluded. Anyone know why this is? Have we failed to sign up to something these other countries have?
Did you miss brexit?
You’ll also need to pay 7 euro and queue to be fingerprinted from next year
Because unlike what Brexiteers told you, EU Member States have plenty of sovereignty and can decide which third countries they treat differently.
It’s called “taking back control”
And applied just as much to the EU as the UK.
USA, Japan, etc all currently require a Schengen visa (and will require an ETIAS from next year). At that point UK visitors may well be allowed to use the e-gates in Germany, as they currently are in some other EU countries such as Spain and Portugal.
Incidentally, on my trip to BER a couple of weeks ago, nobody was using e-gates, all passports were being checked manually, regardless of nationality.
US and Japanese citizens don’t require Schengen visa for tourism or business purposes along with many other nationals.
My bad then, I’ve heard Americans discussing it but maybe it was for extended stays! They will need ETIAS when it’s introduced, though there was an article on here recently about the fingerprinting element of it being postponed.
Their forums were in uproar when they found out that they’d need one for the UK as well in the future. Ironic really since they’ve been inflicting it on us for years. Lots of “I’ll never go to the UK or Europe again” posts.
Estas, ETIAS etc are all for short term travel whichever counrty you go to. Visas are extended stays. But it’s all dependant on your country of residence/passport being entitled to travel on the Esta. There are only 40 countries approved for an ESTA to the US for example. My colleagues in Bulgaria are having a US Visa nightmare trying to get to our head office and Bulgaria and Cyprus wont be added to the list any time soon.
I’m sure the UK and EU lists will be similarly short when they’re introduced.
I find this hilariously hyposcritical https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/bulgaria-cyprus-putting-at-risk-future-visa-free-travel-to-us-with-their-golden-passport-schemes/ since last time I looked you could quite easily buy your way in to US residence with roughly half a million to invest in the right place.
ETIAS is only for visa-waver country nationals, currently 63 countries. Fingerprints will only be needed once every three years when ETIAS expires.
Also given most of these countries’ nationals can stay for up to 90 days it’s very unlikely they’ll need an extended stay visa.
For those needing a Schengen visa, ETIAS won’t be required nor fingerprinting because these are taken as part of visa application process.
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