Speaking at its annual Travel Convention in Madeira on 13 October, UK travel association ABTA confirmed that the European Commission has quietly removed all public references to a ‘Q4 2026’ start date for the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS). That vacuum, ABTA warned, has encouraged more than 150 unregulated websites to market non-existent ETIAS ‘permits’—often targeting travellers bound for Italy and other Mediterranean destinations. Under ETIAS, visa-exempt nationals (including Britons, Americans and Canadians) will eventually need to complete an online security pre-screening before entering the Schengen Area. The fee is expected to be €20 but the system cannot open until the EES is fully stable. With EES teething problems still unresolved, Brussels has stopped forecasting an exact go-live date. ABTA’s public-affairs director, Luke Petherbridge, told delegates that fraudulent intermediaries are already charging between £35 and £120 to ‘process’ an authorisation that does not yet exist. Some sites even mimic the Italian Foreign Ministry’s graphics to appear legitimate. Victims risk identity theft as well as financial loss because passport data and payment details are harvested. For Italian inbound-tourism and corporate-mobility managers the message is clear: do not budget for ETIAS fees in 2026 itineraries and brief travellers that no application portal is live. ABTA also urged the EU to publish a definitive timeline or at least a quarterly update so that legitimate agencies can plan communications campaigns and IT integrations. Companies relocating staff to Italy should update pre-departure checklists and instruct relocation vendors to monitor only the official eu-login portal and Farnesina (Italian MFA) channels. Any request for payment or biometric data in relation to ETIAS before an EU press release is almost certainly fraudulent.
Source: Travel Weekly
