ETIAS with a criminal record: what the form actually asks

The exact questions ETIAS asks

Many sites guess at this. The wording is set out in EU law: Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2023/2424 defines the background questions the application form puts to every traveller. There are three areas:

• Criminal convictions: whether you have been convicted in the last 15 years of one of the listed offences, and in the last 25 years for terrorist offences, with the country and the date of the court judgment.
• War or conflict zones: whether you have stayed in specific listed areas in the past 10 years, and why.
• Removal orders: whether in the past 10 years you have been subject to a return decision or a decision requiring you to leave a country, in the EU or elsewhere.

The base ETIAS regulation had set shorter look-backs of 10 and 20 years; the 2023 decision that fixes the actual form wording extended them, so treat 15 and 25 years as the operative figures.

Which offences count

The conviction question is not about any offence. It points to the list annexed to Regulation (EU) 2018/1240: serious crimes such as terrorism, sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, drug and arms trafficking, murder, rape, grievous bodily harm, corruption, fraud and money laundering. Minor matters, motoring offences and the like are not on the list.

The question also concerns convictions only. On the published wording, arrests that led to no conviction and cautions are not asked about. If your situation is borderline, that is exactly when to take proper legal advice before applying.

Spent convictions

UK travellers often ask whether convictions spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act must be declared. ETIAS is an EU form governed by EU law, and its question is simply whether you were convicted of a listed offence within the look-back period; it does not reference the UK concept of spent convictions. A listed conviction inside the window is what the form asks about, spent or not. UK criminal-records lawyers read it the same way, and if the distinction matters to your situation, get advice from one before applying.

Does answering yes mean refusal?

No. An answer of yes routes the application to manual processing: a national ETIAS unit in the responsible country reviews the case rather than the automated system approving it in minutes. Manual review can take up to four days, extendable to 30 days where more information or an interview is needed. A referral is not a refusal; it means a person is looking at the file. If an application is ultimately refused, the notice must explain why and how to appeal under the national law of the country that refused it. See ETIAS refused for what happens next.

Overstays and immigration history

The form does not ask about past overstays. But the removal-order question covers deportations and orders to leave anywhere in the world in the past 10 years, and the EU’s Entry/Exit System has recorded non-EU travellers’ crossings since April 2026, so recent Schengen overstays are visible to the system regardless of what the form asks. Answer the questions that are asked, accurately, and do not volunteer guesses about ones that are not.

Why accuracy matters

Providing inaccurate information on an ETIAS application is itself a ground for refusal, and may affect future applications. If you’re unsure how to answer a question, take time to research it (and, if needed, get legal advice) before submitting the form.

What to do if you are worried

• Don’t apply impulsively. Read the question carefully.
• If your circumstances are complex, consider speaking to an immigration lawyer in your country before applying.
• Use the official EU application channel, never a site that pre-fills background-question answers for you.