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Sad news for those who love visiting beautiful Europe: ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System), planned to be launched in late 2026, will require mandatory pre-travel registration for travellers from the countries that were previously visa-exempt, including Australia. That system will unleash extensive personal data collection, which will likely become a deterrent for law-abiding privacy-conscious tourists concerned about surveillance and data breaches, especially after the revelations that a EU member was passing confidential data to a foreign regime.

European authorities are trying to dress ETIAS up as “not a visa”. However, in practical terms, it will function very much like one. A visa typically involves three core elements: the collection of personal information, the charging of a fee, and the power to deny entry. Since ETIAS includes all three, it will effectively operate as a visa, regardless of how it is labeled.