BiH citizens will need special permission to enter the EU

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to enter the European Union only after obtaining special permission starting next year.

Although holders of Bosnian and Herzegovinian passports do not need a visa to travel to the EU, they will have to obtain special permission to enter the Schengen Agreement countries. This, along with a COVID-19 status certificate, will be indispensable documents for anyone traveling to any of the 27 Union countries.

In April 2016, the EU decided that all travelers from outside the bloc must register in the special European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).

What needs to be done for a holder of a BiH passport to enter the EU?

You must apply on a special ETIAS website, via the internet.

Fill in the provided form with your first name, last name, date and place of birth, address, parents' names, passport number, its validity period, and answer questions about whether you use drugs, have any connections to terrorism or human trafficking, have traveled to any war or conflict zones, have been convicted of a crime, where you work, where you have traveled within the EU before, and answer certain security questions.

After filling out the form online and submitting it to the system, you must pay a fee of 7 euros for it to be processed. Persons under 18 years of age do not pay this fee.

You can pay with one of your credit or debit bank cards.

The EU points out that the system is designed so that the entire process takes a maximum of 10 minutes.

After the payment is processed, your application will be processed, and you will receive a response to the email address you provide in the ETIAS system.

The ETIAS website claims that 95 percent of applications are processed automatically and a response is received very quickly.

The data you provide in the form is checked by EU security agencies, from Europol to the Schengen Information System checks.

For the remaining 5 percent, the response time is 36 hours. If you do not receive one, you cannot enter the EU. However, there is a special procedure for correcting any errors. Among other things, you will have access to an appeal form to which the institutions of the EU country you intend to travel to must respond within four weeks.

If ETIAS requests additional information from you, you have 96 hours to provide it.