Business travelers heading to France – and the companies that move them – have been given at least another year’s reprieve from the €7 European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) fee. Multiple media outlets reported on 7 July that the European Commission and EU-LISA, the agency building the platform, have decided that the long-awaited pre-travel security screen cannot realistically go live before early 2027. The decision follows weeks of chaotic queues at French and other Schengen airports as the new Entry/Exit System (EES) was stress-tested on peak-season passenger flows. Once operational, ETIAS will require passport-exempt visitors – including travellers from the U.K., U.S., Canada, Singapore and dozens of other markets – to obtain an online authorisation and pay a fee before boarding any flight, train or ferry to the Schengen Area. French tourism bodies had warned that the combination of EES fingerprint/photo capture at the border and mandatory ETIAS registration could create critical choke-points at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle in the run-up to the 2027 World Expo in Lyon. According to officials cited by the Financial Times, the delay is partly driven by a shortage of trained border-staff and by airline concerns that the present EES rollout is already adding up to 90 seconds per passenger at busy airports such as Paris-Orly and Nice-Côte d’Azur. EU-LISA has been tasked with re-sequencing IT milestones so that system interfaces can be delivered sequentially, reducing the risk of simultaneous failures across 30 member states. For mobility managers the message is clear: continue to brief short-term assignees and frequent travellers on biometric border procedures, but postpone ETIAS compliance budgeting until the 2027 financial year. Immigration counsel nevertheless recommend capturing passport data in HRIS systems now, so that companies can bulk-apply for authorisations once the portal finally opens.
![EU Pushes Back ETIAS Launch to 2027, Giving Travelers to France Extra Breathing-Room]()
VisaHQ can make that preparatory stage much easier. Our secure platform lets travel coordinators upload and store employee passport details, monitor document validity and, when the time comes, submit ETIAS requests in bulk—saving both money and administrative effort. Learn more about how we can support your France-bound travellers at
Operators of corporate shuttles into France should also monitor future test phases; carriers will ultimately be liable for boarding denials if a traveller lacks a valid ETIAS. Although France had invested heavily in automated e-gates to keep traffic moving ahead of the now-abandoned Q4 2026 go-live, the Interior Ministry said the extra time will allow it to finish expanding the smart-gate footprint at secondary airports and the Eurostar terminal in Lille. For the 90 million annual visitors to France, the most immediate consequence is simply that passport-only entry remains possible for the 2026-27 ski and conference season.
VisaHQ can make that preparatory stage much easier. Our secure platform lets travel coordinators upload and store employee passport details, monitor document validity and, when the time comes, submit ETIAS requests in bulk—saving both money and administrative effort. Learn more about how we can support your France-bound travellers at
Operators of corporate shuttles into France should also monitor future test phases; carriers will ultimately be liable for boarding denials if a traveller lacks a valid ETIAS. Although France had invested heavily in automated e-gates to keep traffic moving ahead of the now-abandoned Q4 2026 go-live, the Interior Ministry said the extra time will allow it to finish expanding the smart-gate footprint at secondary airports and the Eurostar terminal in Lille. For the 90 million annual visitors to France, the most immediate consequence is simply that passport-only entry remains possible for the 2026-27 ski and conference season.
