Colombia
According to the protocol validated by the European Union in 2016 and subsequently in 2018, the ETIAS Visa Waiver requirement will start being enforced in early 2025 and has officially been confirmed to also involve holders of passports from Colombia.
ETIAS for Colombians: summary of main conditions
Colombian Nationals allowed to electronically apply for ETIAS starting from 2025
All applicants must hold a valid passport issued by the Republic of Colombia
ETIAS to allow journeys for tourism, business, medical treatment or transit alternatively towards and across the 34 ETIAS Area Member Countries and De Facto Members.
Duration of stay in the ETIAS Zone as a group not to surpass the brink of 90 days out of every six months.
ETIAS – cardinal points
Citizens of Colombia with a valid passport will, from early 2025, be able to electronically submit their application for Europe’s Schengen Area Visa Waiver named ETIAS.
The provision will involve all short-term visitors of Colombian Nationality willing to come to Europe for short term journeys whose purpose fit in the short list reported in the summary of main conditions.
Short term unpaid training or study, with a stay always below the aforementioned threshold, can also be permitted just like family and friends visit since those are considered part of the accepted leisure motives.
Since Europe’s very diverse cultural and political history, it must although be underlined that ETIAS is to become part of the border regulations not to all Europe and neither to all the European Union but solely to those thirty-four nations that are to some extent connected to the Schengen Area.
The Republic of Ireland for instance, albeit being EU Member since 1973, does not belong to such Area and therefore does not require visitors to have a valid ETIAS but instead applies its own immigration rules.
Many more European Countries that are both outside Schengen Area and EU are actually part of the ensemble of nations whose citizen are required to hold an ETIAS for their short-term journeys.
ETIAS application to Colombians
The ETIAS application procedure for Nationals of Colombia is easy to approach and is expected to require each petitioner no more than ten minutes of time to be properly completed.
Each candidate, minors included that are expected to seek the support of a legal guardian or parent, is required to fill out an electronic form where to input their data.
Such data are divided in four broad categories:
- personal information
- contact details
- travel schedule
- eligibility questions
Once the ETIAS application has been submitted through payment of the required taxes, Colombian Citizens will receive its outcome, positive in most cases, in usually no longer than 72 hours on their personal e-mail.
Since the Visa Waiver approval will only be sent directly to each traveler’s personal e-mail it is very important for each candidate to input a valid and working e-mail account when they fill out the required form.
Once received its clearance, ETIAS Visa Waiver to citizens of Colombia is valid for a maximum of 3 years and allows for multiple entries in each of the Schengen Area current, future and De Facto Member States.
Those passengers whose passport expires in less than 3 years from the issue date must remember that their ETIAS will cease its validity together with the passport.
It is also important to recall that upon reaching Schengen Area’s External Borders all ETIAS Holders from Colombia will be required to have both passport and Visa Waiver with a validity long enough to cover for their whole stay in the ETIAS Member States and the passport itself is actually always required to have at least three full months of residual validity upon leaving the very ETIAS Area.
ETIAS use in practice
Even though it is compulsory for short term trips falling under the categories cited in the “Summary of Main Conditions”, holding a ETIAS Visa Waiver itself does not give an absolute certainty that the National of Colombia will be allowed entry into the EU/Schengen Area since the final decision on this aspect is only taken by the Border Control Officers.
Visitors holding Colombian Passport coming to ETIAS Area from abroad are therefore reminded that they might always be demanded to provide with additional documents so as to allow an assessment on the genuine purpose of their trip and on the fact that they do not plan to overstay in the ETIAS Area. Such additional documents may include:
- return ticket to country of residence
- travel health insurance
- proof of sufficient funds to support themselves during the whole stay
Summary of ETIAS main terms
When approved, ETIAS Visa Waiver will be directly linked to the Colombian travelers’ passports and it is therefore not necessary to print out the approval document.
The only allowed travel purposes covered by ETIAS for Citizens of Colombia are:
- Commerce/Trade
- Tourism
- Transit
- Medical Treatment
The total stay within the ETIAS countries must never exceed 90 days out of every 180 days.
Exceptions
No Visa Waiver is required to visitors that hold a valid Schengen Visa or a Permit of Stay issued by most of the ETIAS nations while on the other hand a Schengen Visa will be required to all those travelers whose situation does not fit in the ETIAS eligibility criteria.
A valid Visa Waiver is accepted for entry in any of the 34 Member Countries from either air, land or sea borders and regardless of place of origin of the journey.
To study on an ETIAS
Colombian Nationals willing to study, work or live in an ETIAS country will still be required to apply for a specific Consular Visa at the relevant Embassy or Consulate of the Country they wish to visit.
Although ETIAS is not fit for long term study in the EU, it can be used by Colombian Passport Holders for short term study programs (such as language classes, cooking classes and company organized training courses) if the stay in the Schengen Area will not pass the threshold of 90 days within 6 months.