Timor Leste
Citizens of Timor Leste will, from 2025, need to obtain an ETIAS for their short-term travels to the over 30 Member Nations of the newly established ETIAS Area.
ETIAS for Timor Leste Citizens: basic facts
Timor Leste Nationals eligible for ETIAS since 2025
ETIAS applicants to be in possession of a valid passport issued by the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste
ETIAS as mandatory condition for business, tourism, transit and medical treatment towards the 34 ETIAS Member Countries
Duration of stay in the ETIAS Area as a whole must not surpass 90 out of every 180 days
Timor Leste and Europe’s Visa Waiver
As confirmed between 2016 and 2018 by European Union Counsil’s resolutions concerning the new Visa Waiver System to the Schengen Area, citizens of Timor Leste will, from 2025, need to obtain an ETIAS for their short-term travels to the over 30 Member Nations of the newly established ETIAS Area.
An ETIAS will be necessary for journeys to and across such European Nations provided that the visitor does not hold a valid Schengen Visa or Permit of Stay and that the proven purpose of the transfer is for either leisure, business, transit or medical treatment. Also, the combined stay in ETIAS Area as a whole must never be exceeding ninety days out of every six months.
As far as travel purposes are concerned it must though be highlighted that also family and friends visit journeys are allowed since they are both included in the leisure and tourism criteria.
Additionally, although ETIAS is not fit for long term study programs, the Visa Waiver can be used for short training programs if the stay in the ETIAS Countries Area will not surpass the aforementioned combined permanence threshold.
Timor Leste visitors with planned stay longer than 90 days within 6 months or whose purpose of the trip is not included in the short list above will still be required to apply for a Consular Visa.ETIAS application form
Applying for ETIAS Visa Waiver for Timor Leste nationals is a simple electronic process that requires each candidate just a few minutes of time to input a series of personal and travel related data. The main core of the application protocol consists of basic questions to assess the identity of the traveler like: full name, birth date, birth place, passport number, passport expiry date. Subsequently each passenger is also required to input their contact details that must include a valid e-mail address. Also, the ETIAS form asks the Timor Leste petitioners details about their first planned trip towards Europe and verify their eligibility through a brief set of personal history questions.
Security control, clearance and issuance of ETIAS
Once the electronic Visa Waiver application has been completed and paid for, all the data will be automatically cross checked by Europol Data, Interpol and a number of other security international database that will, usually in a matter of a few hours, establish if the applicant poses any kind of security or migration threat to the EU / Schengen Area.
According to the ETIAS System design plans set by the European Union, once the ETIAS application for citizen of Timor Leste has been submitted the result will in most case be available in no more than 72 hours.
Whether the feedback is positive, like it will in most cases base, or negative, the candidate will receive an e-mail notification with the result of the process. This is why declaring a valid e-mail address while filling out the contact details section of the form will be of great importance.
Since the ETIAS Visa Waiver is automatically linked to the Timor Leste 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 in case of need at any point during the trip to and across the 34 ETIAS destinations.Validity terms of ETIAS Visa Waiver
A properly issued ETIAS is valid for 3 years starting from the application data although in some cases such expiry date might occur sooner if, for instance, the passport of Timor Leste used for the application has less than 3 years of remaining validity. In any case what is the more important is that the passport must always have enough validity to cover for the whole planned stay, with a 3 months surplus, in the ETIAS Area in its entirety and it must be always clear that in order to prove the duration or aim of the travel, incoming passengers from Timor Leste, may at any time be asked to provide a return ticket or other supporting documents.