Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Will American tourists need to pay a fee to visit Switzerland?

The EU has plans to introduce an authorisation system for non-EU holidaymakers - including Americans when entering the EU and Schengen zone. Here's how it will work for people travelling to Switzerland in future.

Published: 27 July 2023 10:51 CEST
Updated: 28 July 2023 15:09 CEST
Will American tourists need to pay a fee to visit Switzerland?

There are two big changes afoot when it comes to travel into the EU Schengen zone (full list below), including Switzerland, which will affect arrivals from the USA.

Because the EU loves an acronym, both of them are known by their initials – EES and ETIAS. EES is essentially an enhanced passport check with fingerprinting – find full details of that here.

But the one that will have the biggest effect on tourists and people arriving in Switzerland for short trips is ETIAS. 

In short, it will require all arrivals into the EU and Schengen zone (Ireland is not included) to register in advance online.

Who?

The ETIAS requirement applies to all arrivals into the Schengen zone from a non-EU country – including the USA – who do not have a Swiss (or other EU) visa or residency card.

It will therefore mostly apply to tourists, second-home owners or people on family visits.

At present Americans benefit from the 90-day rule, which allows people to spend 90 days out of every 180 in the EU without the need for a visa.

ETIAS is technically a visa waiver, rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of entirely paperwork-free travel.

How?

Travellers will have to fill out an online application before departure, giving their personal details such as name, age, address.

Once issued, the authorisation lasts for three years, so frequent travellers do not need to complete a new application every time, but it must be renewed every three years.

The online application is set up to give a rapid response, and people would generally not need to fill it in until about 72 hours before travel, although the full details of the system are yet to be revealed.

Anyone who has not completed the online process will be denied boarding at the airport. 

How much?

The exact cost of the application is set to be €7 (so currently around 6.7 Swiss francs), and is free for under 18s and over 70s. It lasts for three years and can be used for multiple trips.

When?

The introduction of the ETIAS system has been delayed several times and is currently scheduled for 2024, with no precise introduction date.

It will come into effect after EES is introduced – EES is currently set to be introduced some time in 2024, but the French government is pushing hard for that to be after the Paris Olympics in summer 2024.

It’s therefore entirely possible that the start date of ETIAS will be pushed back again to 2025.

Is this fair?

Ex US president Donald Trump seems to have only recently found out about ETIAS and is very angry about it.

This is a decision made by EU countries in respect of their borders, so it’s not within the control of the US government.

It certainly represents a change in travel to Europe for Americans, but the US has made similar demands of EU citizens since 2009. Anyone travelling to the US for a short holiday or trip from a European country must fill in the ESTA online visa waiver.

ESTA is in fact the system that the EU’s ETIAS was modelled on.

These are all the EU and Schengen area countries that will require non-EU visitors to provide an ETIAS visa waiver when arriving at the border: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

AMERICANS IN SWITZERLAND

Americans in Switzerland: How you can vote in the US presidential election

The US presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is on November 5th. If you are an American citizen living in Switzerland, you can vote by absentee ballot.

Published: 19 September 2024 10:50 CEST
Americans in Switzerland: How you can vote in the US presidential election

If you have not yet registered, you should do this immediately, so that you can be sure to receive your ballot and send it back to arrive in your state’s election offices before November 5th.

How can you go about it?

Even if you registered to vote in previous elections, the process is different now than in the past.

That’s because, according to the US Embassy in Bern, new absentee voting laws went into effect in 2012.

Whereas before that year you received your ballots automatically after having registered for the first time, this is no longer the case.

Instead, all US citizens living outside the United States (including in Switzerland) must complete a new Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) every year if they wish to vote from abroad.

“States are now required to send out ballots 45 days before an election,” according to the Embassy, which means that you should ideally receive it by the end of September.

Fortunately, you don’t have to rely only on postal services to deliver your ballot

“No matter what state you vote in, you can now ask your local election officials to provide your blank ballots to you electronically (by email, internet download, or fax, depending on your state),” the Embassy says.

“You can now also confirm your registration and ballot delivery online. Be sure to include your email address on the form to take advantage of the electronic ballot delivery option as this is the fastest and most reliable way to receive your ballot on time.” 

Once you receive and fill out your ballot, how do you send it back?

Find out what your state’s deadline for absentee ballots is and return it in one of these ways:

Local mail

Send the ballot back via SwissPost

US Embassy Diplomatic Pouch

Mail the ballot placed into a second envelope to: U.S. Embassy, CONS/ACS/Voting, P.O. Box, 3001 Bern. for return to the United States.

It must be addressed to your local election officials and have sufficient U.S. postage, or be in a prepaid envelope.
 
Fax, Email, or Internet

Some states permit electronic transmission of completed ballots. Consult the Voting Assistance Guide for options in your state.

Express Courier Service

If time is short, you can use delivery services such as FedEx, DHL, or UPS at your own expense. 

Can all Americans living in Switzerland vote?

If you are US citizen (even if dual — that is, you have obtained Swiss or another citizenship while living abroad), and are 18 years of age or older, then you are eligible to vote in US elections.

This is the case even if have been living outside the United States for a very long time or are the so-called ‘accidental American’ — someone who was born overseas to American parent(s) but has never lived in the US him/herself.

As long as you have an up-to-date US passport, you can vote.

On the other hand, if you are one of tens of thousands of Americans in Switzerland who have renounced their US citizenship, then you obviously can’t request a ballot and vote.
 
READ ALSO: Why Americans in Switzerland renounced their US passport 

Why should you bother with US elections?

That’s an entirely personal call.

If you plan to return to the United States at some point, it is good to have a say in what kind of government, and policies, are in place.

If you are not planning on going back and / or have no interest in how and by whom America is ran, then your vote is probably not as urgent.

The important thing is that you have an option to vote if you wish, and are eligible, to do so.
 
 

SHOW COMMENTS