What we track
Every page here is checked against its official source. This page last updated .
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Twelve pages, checked against the source.
Europe and the UK have changed what travellers need three times in two years, and the changes rarely arrive as an announcement — a date slips, a system starts for coaches but not for cars, a fee goes up. These are the pages we keep current, and the date beside each one is the day we last checked it rather than the day we last edited it.
If you want to know how that checking works before you trust any of it, that is written down too: how we check our information.
Status pages
These answer a question whose answer changes. We check the official source every day and rewrite the page when the answer would change, so the date on each one is the date we last looked.
Is EES running right now?
Whether the EU Entry/Exit System is operating, who it applies to, and the places it still works differently — the Channel crossings above all, where cars are still not being registered.
Last checkedIs ETIAS in force yet?
Whether ETIAS has started, what is known about the start date now that the late-2026 target has gone, and the rules that are already settled for when it does.
Last checked
Guides
These cover rules that are stable. We re-check them when the underlying rule moves rather than on a calendar, and they carry the date of the last check too.
EES with children
What actually happens at the border with a family. Under-12s give no fingerprints — but they also cannot use the self-service machines, which is the part that changes your morning.
Last checkedDo you need a UK ETA?
What the UK’s electronic travel authorisation costs, how long it lasts, who is exempt, how to apply — and which website is the official one, because that is what most people are actually trying to find out.
Last checkedThe UK ETA for children and babies
Every traveller needs their own ETA, babies included. What it costs, how long it lasts, and why renewing a child’s passport ends it.
Last checkedSchengen visa, ETIAS or EES?
Three things with similar names that people constantly mix up. Which one applies to you, and which ones you can stop worrying about.
Last checkedCan you pre-register for EES?
Yes — through the official EU app, and at free kiosks at a growing number of crossings. What they do, and the one thing they do not do.
Last checkedA child travelling without both parents
There is no EU-wide rule, so there is no single answer. What there is: three separate questions — the child’s own documents, the country they are leaving, the country they are entering — and who answers each one.
Last checkedYour Schengen visa was refused. What now?
What the standard refusal form is, what each numbered ground means in plain words, and what the options are in principle. Deliberately not an assessment of your case.
Last checkedDoes a trip to the UK reset your 90 days?
No, and the reason is the part everyone gets wrong. How the rolling 180-day window works, and what changed now that EES counts the days for you.
Last checked
How we work
Which websites are the official ones?
The one official route and the real fee for the UK ETA, ETIAS, EES and the Schengen visa — and how to spot an intermediary charging a margin on something you can do yourself.
Last checkedHow we check our information
Which sources we use and in what order, how often each page is re-checked, and what we do when we cannot confirm that something has changed.
Last checked
What we don’t cover
- Requirements for countries outside the EU, the Schengen area and the UK. We would rather cover a few things properly than every country badly.
- Anything about your own case. We publish rules, not decisions — border authorities decide at the border.
- Visa applications and processing. There is nothing here to buy, and nobody can sell you an EES registration or an ETIAS today.
We keep track so you don’t have to
These pages exist because the rules keep moving and nobody tells travellers. We’ll email you when something on them changes that you may need to act on — no newsletter, no marketing.
We’re building it with real travellers. If you’ve run into any of this yourself, your experience could help us build something genuinely useful.