Crossing Borders in the Schengen Area: Visa Requirements for Estonia & Latvia Travel

Crossing borders in Europe can feel so different depending on where you come from. If you haven’t travelled extensively within Europe, then just driving through an international border feels like a foreign experience. Furthermore, if you need a visa, there’s always some additional planning to check and confirm requirements. I recently travelled by bus from Tallinn, Estonia to Riga, Latvia. This post shares my experience of crossing the border on a Schengen visa -including a last-minute requirement surprise.

In a separate post, I share a step-by-step guide to getting the Estonia Schengen visa and my honest experience travelling from Tallinn to Riga by bus.

Crossing the Estonia – Latvia Border on a Schengen visa

After a wonderful 2-3 days in Tallinn, I was enroute to Riga. As is with most internal Schengen borders, I didn’t even realize I was already in another country until I saw my phone network provider changing and a notification welcoming me to Latvia. Aah, the beauty of Schengen travel and visa!

However, I was quite anxious whether this crossing would go smoothly. The main reason for my anxiety is that Latvia introduced an internal ETA for citizens from non-EU countries…

What you need to know about the Latvian ETA

First the Latvia ETA is separate from the Schengen visa! It is an additional obligation to getting the right visas and travel documents, and it does not guarantee right to enter Latvia.

The ETA an Electronic Travel Declaration, that is, an online form asking for certain information and must be submitted to allow entry into Latvia.

The Latvia ETA went into effect on 1^st September 2025.

Who needs to submit the ETA?

The declaration form must be filled by all foreigners, with these exceptions: citizens of member states of EU, Albania, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Japan, Mexico, Montenegro, North Macedonia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA. Other exemption is those travelling for diplomatic and consular purposes.

Even if you hold a Schengen visa or valid EU residence permit, you’re still required to submit the ETA. The only exception is if your visa or permit was issued by Latvia.

When should you submit the ETA?

The ETA must be submitted at least 48 hours before entering Latvia.

What information is requested?

Thankfully, the information requested is standard ETA information. The form asks you to declare:

• Personal information
• Passport information
• Purpose of travel
• Arrival and departure dates
• Place of stay in Latvia
• Travel routes/itinerary
• Contact information
• Any elected positions held by the traveller or relatives;
• Election candidacy
• Current or former status of state or local government official
• Service in armed forces, security services, border, customs, foreign affairs services etc.

For me, most of the election and service information was not applicable, so it took less than 5 minutes to fill the form.

Latvia ETA process

The Latvian ETA can be submitted here: IEM. This is the process:

1. Register an account
2. Receive automated email confirmation
3. Fill out the form with required information
4. Email confirmation that information is submitted and obligation has been fulfilled
5. Exactly 48 hours later, you will receive another notification confirming the registration of the ETA declaration

Note that you do not have to wait for any decisions or additional permissions. After I submitted my ETA, I kept checking my email waiting for some kind of additional acknowledgement. You won’t receive that.

My Experience and thoughts on crossing Baltics border

I’ll admit that I was caught off-guard by this new ETA requirement for travellers into Latvia. I only learnt about it when I received a notification from Lux Express! Furthermore, considering I booked my bus only 3 or so days before travel – I cut it close with the requirement to submit the ETA at least 48 hours before entry.

It’s not very clear now how compliance with non-ETA will be enforced. Like, what if someone doesn’t submit at least 48 hours? Or fails to submit the ETA at all? The official penalty is a fine of up to 2000 EUR or refusal of entry… but does this affect future Schengen visa applications? Who knows – the consequences of non-submission on Schengen applications are unclear.

Yeah, I think I had gotten so used to smooth life after receiving the Schengen visa. But this is just a reminder that one still needs to constantly check all visa requirements.

As of October 2025, I’m not aware of any other Schengen countries requiring an (additional) ETA for non-EU travelers.

Closing Thoughts: Always Check for additional visa requirements

The practical details of crossing the internal borders in Schengen were smooth  – no physical passport control, no delays. However, if planning a similar trip on a Schengen visa, you still need to research and prepare early. For me, discovering I required an ETA for Latvia saved me a lot of stress.