Monaco ETIAS

Monaco, often referred to through the name of its main city of Montecarlo, is though more than a mass cultural phenomenon since its famous lifestyle came as a result of hard work and thanks to taxation policy that made many prestigious business and trading firms establish in the Principality.
One more singularity about Monaco is about its borders and the related policies. Montecarlo is in indeed not Member of either the European Union or the Schengen Area but has decided, years ago, to share its border control with surrounding nation of France creating therefore a total freedom of movement between Monaco and the European Union.
While this may seem natural for a small independent country that has no airports of its own, and whose incoming overseas visitors must therefore serve of French or Italian airports, this provision is not to be underestimated since Monaco also has a sea border that makes it directly accessible from international waters and therefore from non-European countries too.

All these conditions make Monaco what is called a de facto Member of the Schengen Area therefore making Montecarlo’s port an official access point to the European Union/Schengen Area and linking the Principality to all the borders policies enforced by France and the EU including the upcoming ETIAS Visa Waiver protocol.
As a matter of fact, Monaco too will, from 2024, require a valid ETIAS to incoming visitors entering its territory from outside Europe and having a passport issued by one of the 60 Visa Waiver eligible countries.

Applying for ETIAS Visa Waiver to Monaco is a simple electronic process that requires each candidate just a few minutes of their time.
In order to put their application for ETIAS forward, all Visa Waiver travelers, must fill out a form where they are to declare a short set of data such as:

• Full name and surname
• Surname at birth
• Date and place of birth
• Birth Country
• Passport number
• Passport’s authority and place of issue
• Passport’s issue and expiry date
• Contact details
• First country of intended stay in ETIAS Area
• Eligibility questions

Once the electronic Visa Waiver application has been completed and paid for, all the data will be automatically cross checked by several of security international agencies and databases that will, usually in the matter of a few hours, establish if the applicant poses any kind of security or migration threat.

According to the ETIAS System design plans set by the European Union, once the ETIAS to Monaco application has been sent through the result will in most case be available in no more than 72 hours.
If for any reason travelers need to urgently receive feedback to their ETIAS application, they are invited to flag the “urgent procedure” button in the application form.
Whether the feedback is positive, like it will in most cases base, or negative, all petitioners will receive an e-mail notification with the result of the process.

The only travel purposes covered by ETIAS are Business, Tourism, Transit and Medical Treatment and the maximum permanence within the ETIAS Area as a whole must always be no longer than 90 days within six months. Visa Waiver Nationals aiming to study, work or live in Monaco or any other ETIAS Country on a long-term basis will still be demanded to apply for a specific Consular Visa.
Although ETIAS is not fit for long term study programs, ETIAS Visa Waiver can be used to enter the Principality of Monaco for short training programs if the stay in the ETIAS countries area will not pass the timing threshold mentioned above.
More details on ETIAS eligibility standards and exceptions can be viewed here.

Since the ETIAS Visa Waiver is automatically linked to the passport of the applicant there is no formal obligation to print out the received ETIAS document. Although it is advised to print the Visa Waiver to show it in case of need at any point during the trip to any of the ETIAS Nations.
Once issued ETIAS to Monaco is valid for 3 years starting from the application date. In some cases, though, the ETIAS expiry date might come sooner as the passport used for the application has less than 3 years of remaining validity. Upon travelling what matters the most is anyway that the passport always has enough validity left to cover for the whole planned stay in the ETIAS Countries as a whole (plus 3 additional months) and it must always be clear that in order to prove the duration or scope of the travel incoming Visa Waiver passengers to Montecarlo could be asked to provide a return ticket or other supporting documents.
Also, to be remembered is that ETIAS Visa Waiver is intrinsically linked to the passport and not to the individuals themselves; hence if for any reason Visa Waiver right holders change their passport, they will be required to apply for a new ETIAS to be linked to the new travel document.