Brits to pay for Brexit but Aussies will also cough up

The majority of Britons voted for Brexit - and they now need to pay for their mistake. 

Britons travelling to Europe next ­summer will need to apply for a €7 visa waiver, officials in Brussels have confirmed. 

Ylva Johansson, the EU home affairs commissioner, said this week that the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) was on course to launch in the northern spring. 

Passengers visiting the bloc will be required to apply for a waiver - similar to the US ESTA - before thry travel. So even the simplest of cross channel trips will become a hassle. 

The waiver will be valid for three years or until a passport expires, whichever is first. 

Johansson was speaking before the launch of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which will come into force on November 10. 

Together, the two new schemes, designed to make the Euro bloc’s border more secure in the face of terrorist threats, will make travel significantly more bureaucratic.

Under the EES, all passengers without EU passports (that obviously includes Australians)  will be required to have their fingerprints registered and their pictures taken on arrival in mainland Europe.

They will be checked on each subsequent visit. It will add two to three minutes processing time per passenger, compared with the present 45 seconds, experts have estimated.