Official source Checked 10 September 2026 EU or national government source. Source
Why this niche attracts them
A pre-travel authorisation is unfamiliar, it sounds official, it is genuinely required in other countries already, and travellers are anxious about getting it wrong. That combination is ideal for anyone selling reassurance. The gap between announcement and launch makes it worse, because there is no real service to compare against.
Patterns worth recognising
We describe patterns rather than naming sites. Domains change faster than any page can track, and naming one implies the others are fine.
It takes a payment today
The clearest signal. There is no application to pay for. A site collecting money now is charging for a form it cannot submit.
It charges more than the set fee
The fee will be EUR 20, fixed by regulation, the same everywhere. A higher figure means a service charge on top, and the service is filling in a form you can fill in yourself in minutes.
It presents itself as official
Government-styled crests, formal typography, a domain built from words like authorisation or registry. None of these mean anything. The real process will run on the EU's own portal and its own app, and nowhere else.
It promises speed, priority or a guarantee
Decisions will be automated database checks. There will be no fast lane to buy, and nobody can guarantee an outcome they do not decide.
It creates a deadline
Countdown timers, "apply before the rules change", claims that you already need one. Since no date has been published, any specific deadline is invented. Timing lives on the launch status tracker.
It asks for more than the process needs
Bank details beyond a single card payment, passport scans uploaded to a third party, copies of financial documents. The real application will not ask for those.
It is hard to contact and harder to leave
No registered address, no company number, support only by web form, terms that mention non-refundable service fees in small print.
The same pattern already applies to the EES
There is no EES application and no EES fee. Registration happens at the border as part of the border check. Any site inviting you to register for the EES in advance, or to pay for it, is describing something that does not exist. See the EES explainer.
If you have already paid
- Contact your card issuer or bank promptly and ask about a chargeback. Explain that the service could not be delivered because the system is not in operation.
- Keep everything: the page you paid on, confirmation emails, the amount and date.
- Report it to the consumer protection authority in your own country. A cross-border payment does not put it beyond their interest.
- Assume the personal details you submitted are compromised, and treat later contact referring to your application as a follow-on approach.
- When the real process opens, apply again through the EU's own route. A payment to an intermediary does not create an application.
What we are not doing on this page
We do not publish a list of offending domains, and we do not state a number of fraudulent sites in circulation. We would need a citable source such as a Frontex advisory for either, and we would rather leave a gap than fill it with an estimate. This site does not accept advertising from, or referral arrangements with, any visa or travel authorisation service.
Common questions
Is a site legitimate if it is up front about being a third party?
Disclosure makes it honest, not useful. It is still charging a fee on top of a fee, for an application that cannot currently be made at all.
Someone contacted me about my application. Should I reply?
No application exists, so no legitimate follow-up about one exists either. Treat it as an approach based on details collected earlier.
How will I know when the real thing opens?
The EU has committed to advance notice: The European Union will inform about the specific date for the start of ETIAS several months prior to its launch. That announcement will come from the EU, not from an email.
Last verified 10 September 2026. How we verify