What exactly will the ETIAS application form ask for and how long do approvals typically take?

1. What personal and identity details the form will ask for

Applicants must supply basic personal information — full name, date and place of birth, nationality and home address — plus parents’ first names and contact details such as an email and phone number, because the ETIAS authorisation is linked electronically to the travel document used in the application ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. What passport and travel information is required

The application requires passport details (number, issuing country and expiry) and the travel document used for entry; applicants must use that same passport when travelling because the ETIAS is electronically tied to it, and the system checks passport validity against international standards ^{[1] [5]}.

3. Security, criminal-history and travel-history questions

The form includes security-screening items asking about criminal convictions, previous immigration violations, travel to war or conflict zones, and similar risk factors; those answers are automatically cross-checked against security databases including Europol, Interpol and the Schengen Information System ^{[6] [2] [3]}.

4. Health and other declaration questions

Applicants will face questions about health conditions and possibly other declarations relevant to admissibility; exact wording can vary but the public guidance repeatedly flags health and security questions as part of the pre‑screening package ^{[6] [5]}.

5. Payment, age exemptions and administrative details

Most adult applicants will pay a processing fee online by credit or debit card (commonly cited as €20 in several guides), while some age groups (under 18 or over 70) may be exempt from the fee according to multiple summaries — however, published summaries differ on the precise nominal fee in some snippets, so travellers should check the official portal for the definitive amount ^{[7] [8] [6]}.

6. How long the form takes to complete and immediate processing expectations

With passport and payment details at hand, filling the form typically takes about 10 minutes and the system is designed to deliver an automated decision almost instantly for the majority of applicants; several sources state most approvals come through in minutes after submission ^{[9] [7] [10]}.

7. Why some applications take longer — automated hits, manual review, and appeals

If automated checks flag a match or require clarification, applications may enter extended processing: common public guidance cites up to 96 hours (four days) for additional automated/manual checks, and a small subset of complex cases requiring manual national-unit review or extra documentation can take up to 30 days (and in rare cases several weeks) to resolve; applicants denied ETIAS are told which authority decided and may have appeal routes ^{[9] [4] [3]}.

8. Practical implications and caveats in the reporting

Most commercial and advisory sites frame ETIAS as quick and similar to ESTA/eTA systems and emphasize planning ahead because of the minority of longer reviews, but sources vary on exact fee amounts and the maximum processing window (some say 96 hours; some allow up to 30 days), and the official EU ETIAS portal remains the ultimate authority for final timings and fees as the system’s operational details will be definitive when launched ^{[4] [1] [9]}.

9. Final takeaway and best practice

The form asks for identity, passport, contact, travel-plan and security/health declarations and links an approval to the passport electronically, most decisions arrive in minutes after a roughly 10-minute application, but anyone planning travel should apply well in advance — at least a few weeks — to allow for hits that trigger the documented extended reviews lasting from a few days up to several weeks ^{[7] [9] [4]}.