If you are a US citizen, you can travel to Europe without a visa, but this will not happen in 2021. For US Citizens, travelling to Schengen areas is quite easy with the Schengen border agreement. They can travel visa-free to all the Schengen areas!
What is the Schengen Area?
Most of us are unaware of the Schengen areas so let me introduce it you. Schengen area is a zone of 26 countries in Europe. These countries are linked with each other and don’t have any internal borderline. These countries include some famous tourist spots like France, Greece, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Also, some countries like Norway, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein are not in the European Union but are part of the Schengen zone. People or visitors in these countries can visit or move to any of the 26 countries.
European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS)
Currently, any US citizen holding US citizenship and US passport can travel to these countries without holding any visa for up to 90 days. People often visit there for tourism or business meetings. Under this Schengen agreement, you can visit the Schengen area also.
Recently, on Friday 8 March 2019, the European Union announced to end this agreement. They said that Americans will need a new type of visa for travelling to Europe. The new Visa type is a
European Travel Information and Authorization System or ETIAS.
Steps to Apply For ETIAS
To apply for this new visa Americans will need a US passport, a valid email account, and a credit or debit card. The new policy will be in effect after the introduction of
ETIAS. It will be valid for 3 years and will allow the Americans to enter the Schengen areas as many times as they want.
Furthermore, European Union also discussed security issues. They said they had recently improved their security level to avoid illegal migrants or terrorists.
US citizens require to apply for visa to Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania. This is due to the disputes with EU’s European Parliament and European Commission over visas.
Conclusion
The news became widespread when the travel agency
ETIASVisa added this statement to their website. The statement said that US citizens travelling from US to European Schengen-zone countries will require ETIAS. It also stated that this policy will come into affect from 2021. The main purpose behind this step is to avoid problems regarding illegal migration and terrorism.
