A new form of pre-travel screening called the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will launch in the final quarter of 2026, and Belgian organisations that manage international assignments or frequent short-term trips are being advised to get their house in order now. Updated guidance published on 30 July 2026 by travel-management firm FCM confirms that ETIAS will apply to every non-EU national who can currently enter the Schengen area visa-free, including British, American, Canadian and Australian passport holders. While ETIAS is not a visa, travellers who fail to obtain the €20 digital permit after the 12-month transition period risk being denied boarding by airlines or refused entry at Belgium’s external borders. For Belgian businesses the change is more than a compliance footnote: it alters the duty-of-care landscape and introduces new touch-points in the booking workflow. Travel managers will have to capture whether a passenger already holds an ETIAS approval—valid for three years or until passport expiry—and build extra time into trip-approval processes for those whose applications are escalated for manual review, which can take up to 30 days. HR departments running commuter or rotational programmes will need to audit upcoming travel plans to make sure assignees do not overstay the 90-in-180-day Schengen limit that remains unchanged under ETIAS. Airlines and ground-handling agents operating at Brussels Airport and the country’s regional gateways are also upgrading their departure-control software so that ETIAS status appears alongside Advance Passenger Information. Carriers that let an ineligible passenger board face fines and the cost of returning the traveller to their point of origin. The Belgian Federal Police, responsible for border checks at Zaventem, has indicated that e-gates capable of reading the QR-coded authorisation will be rolled out in phases during 2027, but manual queues could lengthen in the early weeks of the scheme. Corporates should beware of third-party websites already offering paid ‘assistance’. The European Commission has not yet opened the official portal, and the FCM briefing warns that scammers are exploiting the vacuum. Companies are therefore advised to communicate centrally vetted information, reference only the Commission’s official site, and consider funding the €20 fee for key travellers to eliminate reimbursement friction. Finally, ETIAS interacts with other EU border-modernisation projects that Belgium supports, notably the biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) postponed to late 2026. Because ETIAS approval will be checked against EES records, ensuring employees exit the Schengen zone on time will become even more critical. In short, with less than six months until launch, Belgian employers have a narrowing window to review policy, update traveller training and test their booking-tool integrations before ETIAS goes live.
Source: FCM Travel
