Schengen’s ETIAS travel authorisation pushed back to 2027, giving Belgium extra time to equip airports

Business travellers to Belgium will not need to apply for the long-awaited European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) until at least early 2027 after EU officials quietly acknowledged further delays to the underlying Entry/Exit System (EES). The slippage was confirmed in a 26 February 2026 briefing note circulated to travel media and referenced in several outlets’ daily digests, including *The Portugal Brief*. ETIAS—often dubbed “Europe’s ESTA”—will eventually require passport-exempt visitors from 59 countries (the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil and others) to obtain a €20 electronic permit before entering any Schengen state, Belgium included. Brussels Airport and Charleroi had planned to complete extensive e-gate upgrades and staff training this summer, but sources at the Federal Police now say the timetable will be “re-sequenced” once the EU’s new target dates are published in the second quarter. For Belgian corporates the reprieve removes a major administrative hurdle from the 2026 conference calendar. Mobility managers no longer need to rush awareness campaigns for overseas clients or fly-in staff, and TMCs can postpone ETIAS data-capture integrations. Nevertheless, companies are urged to maintain budget lines for: (1) biometric-capable passport scanners at reception desks; (2) traveller-tracking tools that can flag impending 90/180-day Schengen limits; and (3) contingency planning around the EES go-live, now slated for late 2026. Border-control unions welcomed the breathing space, arguing that kiosk procurement, systems testing and passenger-flow modelling at Zaventem were lagging well behind schedule. Airlines, meanwhile, fear yet another last-minute shift will confuse travellers and shift blame for denied boarding onto carriers. The Federal Interior Service told *The Brussels Times* it will continue dry-runs with volunteer passengers so that procedures are “battle-tested the day Brussels goes live.” Although the delay offers short-term relief, Belgian firms should not become complacent. Once operational, ETIAS authorisations will be mandatory even for short sales trips, board meetings and trade-fair visits. Global mobility teams should therefore embed the €20 fee and processing lead-time (currently 96 hours, extendable to 30 days if manual review is triggered) into their standard travel-approval workflows well before the system’s final launch window.