ETIAS will not launch in 2026: no new date, 2027 expected, and EES loses its safety valve

The official ETIAS portal has dropped its Q4 2026 launch window and the EU has yet to name a new date. Meanwhile, since 6 September border guards can no longer switch off EES biometrics at peak times. Here is who is affected: tourists, EU residence permit holders and Caribbean and Latin American passport holders.

In 2026, Europe's ETIAS travel authorisation will clearly not go live this year. The official EU portal has dropped its promise of a launch in the last quarter of 2026, and neither the European Commission nor eu-LISA, the agency building the system, has named a new date. Meanwhile the Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational since 10 April, and on 6 September it lost its last temporary safety valve. Here is what that means for travellers, for EU residence permit holders and for the passports that will need ETIAS first.

What happened to ETIAS

In early July it emerged that eu-LISA had acknowledged a launch by the end of 2026 was no longer feasible. There was no press release; instead, the official portal's wording changed in July without announcement: it used to say ETIAS would start operations in the last quarter of 2026; it now says the system is not in operation and no applications are being collected. The EU says it will announce the start date several months in advance.

A Commission spokesperson said only that preparations are ongoing. The eu-LISA management board had been expected to agree a revised timetable in September, but as of 9 September no such meeting has been officially communicated or appears on eu-LISA's public calendar, and the next board meeting with a confirmed date is 17-19 November 2026 in Dublin.

The working assumption is 2027, with April 2027 seen as the earliest realistic date. Those are estimates, not an EU decision, and ETIAS was originally due in 2021 before slipping to 2025 and then late 2026.

Why ETIAS is waiting on EES

ETIAS depends technically on EES, and the EU is not willing to switch on the second system while the first is unstable. The thinking is simple: fix EES first, then add a system that would lengthen the queues again. Our July explainer on EES and ETIAS in 2026 gives the then-official Q4 2026 launch; that date is withdrawn, but the other rules there still apply.

EES: the safety valve expired on 6 September

EES replaces passport stamps with a digital record: on first entry non-EU nationals give fingerprints and a facial image, and the system counts days against the 90/180 rule itself. The phased rollout began on 12 October 2025, and since 10 April 2026 it has run at every external border of 29 European countries. By late July, the Commission says, it had registered more than 145 million entries and exits.

Regulation (EU) 2025/1534 gave member states a buffer: when queues became excessive, border guards could partially suspend EES at a crossing point for up to six hours at a time, renewable, which in practice meant switching off biometric capture at peak times. The option was temporary and expired on 6 September 2026.

In July nine countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland - jointly asked to keep it, calling its end a source of serious concern; airline association IATA wanted it kept through the winter season. On 1 September a Commission spokesperson said EES had broadly worked well over the summer and that the Commission was in close contact with the countries still needing adjustments. As of publication there is no formal extension.

Waits at passport control in Frankfurt reached 120 minutes in July against 60 a year earlier, Munich went to 60 minutes from 31, and Amsterdam's maximum rose from 80 to 120 minutes. The Commission says a registration averages about 70 seconds; Frontex's leadership has warned disruption could last up to two years.

Who is affected by what

EES applies to almost every non-EU short-stay visitor now; ETIAS will apply only to visa-exempt travellers, and only once it launches.

EU residence permit holders: EES does not apply, but watch the details

In late July the Commission confirmed that non-EU nationals holding a residence permit or long-stay visa from a Schengen state are not registered in EES. They show their passport together with the permit or visa, and no fingerprints or facial images are taken. The exception is documents issued by Cyprus and Ireland, which do not operate EES. Residents will not need ETIAS either, whenever it launches.

In practice:

• Skip the kiosks. Go to a staffed booth and show your residence card straight away; the machine does not know your status.
• Bring the original. A phone photo, a photocopy or an expired card is not the document.
• Wrongful registration. If you are entered into EES by mistake, the days count towards 90/180. You can request a correction under Article 52 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, but it is easier to prevent the error at the border.
• Other Schengen states. A permit from one country does not lift the 90-in-180 limit for time spent in the others.

If you spend more than three months a year in Europe, a residence permit solves the problem structurally rather than trip by trip: digital nomad visas, such as those of Spain or Portugal, for remote workers, or the Greek golden visa for investors. Residence can also bring tax residency with it, so work that out before you move.

Caribbean and Latin American passports: ETIAS is aimed at you

ETIAS covers nationals of roughly 60 countries who enter Schengen without a visa. They include all five Caribbean states that sell citizenship by investment: Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico and other Latin American countries.

For these passports the delay is a postponement, not a cancellation; for now only EES applies at the border. What is known about the future ETIAS rules:

• Fee - EUR 20. Applicants under 18 or over 70 pay nothing but still need the authorisation.
• Validity - three years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. It is tied to one passport: new passport, new application.
• Transition - at least six months after launch in which nobody meeting the other entry conditions is refused solely for lacking ETIAS, then a grace period for first-time entrants.
• Coverage - 30 European countries, one more than EES, because Cyprus will apply ETIAS.

Caribbean passports face a bigger risk than ETIAS. On 25 June 2026, Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner wrote to the five governments demanding that they wind down citizenship by investment by 1 June 2028 or risk losing visa-free access, relying on the revised visa suspension mechanism in force since 30 December 2025. If that happened, these passports would need a full Schengen visa rather than ETIAS. See our analysis of the EU ultimatum to Caribbean passports.

The letters target countries that sell citizenship. Passports obtained through residence and naturalisation, such as those of Argentina or Paraguay, fall outside those demands; for their holders the main change is ETIAS itself.

What travellers should do now

• Do not pay for ETIAS. The system accepts no applications; any website selling ETIAS processing today has nothing to do with the EU.
• Build in time. First entries and Schengen connections need a buffer, especially at large hubs.
• Check your passport. To enter Schengen it must have been issued within the last ten years and remain valid for at least three months after your planned departure.
• Count your days. EES sees every entry and exit; smudged stamps no longer help.
• If you hold an EU passport, enter on it: then neither EES nor ETIAS applies to you.
• Watch the official portal. The ETIAS date is to be announced several months ahead, so it will not become mandatory without warning.

Our services for entering and living in the EU

The ETIAS delay is a good moment to solve European access through status rather than a travel form. Where we help most often:

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