Bahamas
Bahamas Nationals confirmed to be eligible for ETIAS since its inception in early 2025
ETIAS Facts for citizens of Bahamas
Bahamas Nationals confirmed to be eligible for ETIAS since its inception in early 2025
All candidates must have a valid passport issued by the Commonwealth of Bahamas
Electronic application and delivery system
ETIAS can be used for business, leisure, transit and medical care journeys to 34 European destinations
Duration of stay in the ETIAS Member Countries as a group must not exceed 90 days within 6 months.
Pre-ETIAS status
Under the current regulations, valid until the end of year 2024, Nationals of Bahamas are allowed to travel towards the Europe’s Schengen Area Member States without the need for other mandatory documents but their passport. This Visa Waiver status currently permits Citizens of Bahamas to visit several countries in Europe for either tourism, business, medical care or transit for a maximum stay of ninety days out of every six months.
ETIAS Area and Bahamas
Beginning form early 2025 this situation will change since a valid ETIAS Visa Waiver will be also required to those willing to visit Europe for short trips complying with the terms of use as listed in the basic facts.
To find out more about who does or does not need an ETIAS click here.
The need for this one more document to be arranged so as to leave towards many destinations in Europe for Bahamas Citizens is although not meant to create any obstacle since the application process for the new Visa Waiver named ETIAS has been confirmed to be a fast and swift procedure. Also, it is expected that an overwhelming majority of applications will receive a positive feedback while also reducing drastically the cases of border rejections.
Moreover, the main goal of ETIAS is to institute an infrastructure that will carry out a security pre- clearance upon all Visa Waiver travelers while also establishing a reliable tracking system to limit as much as possible any attempt to illegally migrate in any of the thirty-four ETIAS Nations.
Thanks to such security clearance embedded in its system, ETIAS will actually allow incoming passenger from Bahamas to enjoy faster border control checks upon arrival in Europe. According to EU officials report this provision is therefore expected to enhance the economic and cultural connections between EU itself and Visa Waiver Countries while also enforcing a better protection of the Schengen Area Borders.ETIAS for Bahamans – How to apply for it and how to use it
As mentioned above the ETIAS application process has been outlined so as to be intuitive and easy to approach while it should not require more than 10 minutes for each candidate.
All applicants are required to input the personal information, planned trip to ETIAS Area information and answer a few background check questions to perfect their form.
It is important to highlight that each single petitioner will need to have an ETIAS of his/her own; such provision also include minors and elders that are therefore required to have a valid individual passport.
The Visa Waiver, when approved, will be sent to the e-mail of the traveler in most cases within only 72 hours.
Starting from the issuance date ETIAS Visa Waiver will then have a validity of 3 years or until the applicant’s passport expiry date (if that is less than 3 years away).
When arriving at the EU border ETIAS holders from Bahamas might always be asked for further documents to prove the reason for their trip and to attest they do not plan to overstay in the ETIAS Area.
Such documents might include:- Return ticket to the country of origin or onwards ticket to a non-ETIAS country
- Proof of sufficient funds
- Health travel insurance
For more details about the border protocol upon arrival in Europe and while inside the ETIAS Area click here.