New Visa Rules Starting Mid 2025 - Schengen Area (Includes Spain & France)

[Hood]

I listened to a podcast yesterday that indicated starting in Mid-2025, citizens travelling from 50 previously exempt visa countries (including Canadian citizens - me) will now be required to obtain a visa before entering the Schengen Area (29 European Countries including France and Spain). I will fly to Paris, France on May 5, 2025 and start my Camino in SJPP on May 7 and was wondering if anyone knows if a visa will be required. As it appears right now, I do not believe I will need a visa but would hate to run into problems when landing in Paris. Does anyone know and future details on this matter. My research is inconclusive as the official website European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) obtaining a visa electronically is not up and running as yet. Thoughts commons in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Brad

 

[David Tallan]

There are a lot of threads on this topic. The first thing to say is that there is difference between ETIAS and visas. I see you are from Toronto (like me). And ETIAS is more like the Nexus pass you might get to drive to the States, a pre-security screening that makes your entry faster. Coming from a visa-exempt country, you still don't need a visa and the default is still that you are allowed in unless a security flag is raised. People who really need visas have no such default. It is worth noting that Canada, the US, and the UK have already implemented similar electronic travel authorization systems for visa-exempt foreign visitors.

In terms of when it starts, a number of dates have been said before and it has been postponed more than once. I think you can be confident that there will be plenty of notice and communication when it does become a reality and it should be fairly quick and easy to obtain (another way that ETIAS differ from visas).

As I said before, there has been much discussion on this topic. Here is a recent one: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/etias-when-does-it-start.90038/

I don't think we need another thread and I am going to close this one.