Beginning in 2021, U.S. citizens will need to complete a European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) application before entering most European countries. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Beginning in 2021, U.S. citizens heading to most European countries will need authorization first — but the European Union wants everyone to know that this is not a visa requirement. Some news outlets recently ran erroneous stories that called the coming step a visa, sparking confusion in the traveling public and a clarification from the E.U.

The European Travel Information and Authorization System, or ETIAS for short, is a fully automated, online application to be completed before a trip to the Schengen Area, made up of 26 European countries. The fee is 7 euros. Travelers from the U.S. and other countries whose citizens do not require a visa, such as Canada and Australia, will be affected beginning in January 2021. The E.U. made the move to enhance border security.

Europeans must already complete a similar process before traveling here.

A European Commission statement describes the difference between a Schengen visa and an ETIAS travel authorization: "The ETIAS authorization is not a visa. Nationals of visa liberalization countries will continue to travel the E.U. without a visa but will simply be required to obtain a travel authorization via ETIAS prior to their travel. ETIAS will be a simple, fast and visitor-friendly system, which will, in more than 95 percent of cases, result in a positive answer within a few minutes. An ETIAS travel authorization does not reintroduce visa-like obligations. There is no need to go to a consulate to make an application, no biometric data is collected and significantly less information is gathered than during a visa application procedure. Whereas, as a general rule, a Schengen visa procedure can take up to 15 days … the online ETIAS application only takes a few minutes to fill in. The validity will be for a period of three years, significantly longer than the validity of a Schengen visa. An ETIAS authorization will be valid for an unlimited number of entries."

Send your questions or tips to Travel Editor Kerri Westenberg at travel@startribune.com, and follow her on Twitter: @kerriwestenberg.