EU officials fear that British travellers will be tricked into paying over the odds for a new visa waiver, which will be mandatory to travel to the European Union from November 2023.

The ETIAS visa waiver will cost €7 for three years and will be available from an official EU website, yet to be launched.

But officials are concerned that scammers will launch copy-cat websites to con holidaymakers to hand over money for bogus visas.

There’s also a concern that unofficial third-party websites will spring up offering to process visas for a fee, which will lead to unsuspecting holidaymakers needlessly paying a premium for the service.

Already there are several copy-cat websites charging to process ESTA visa waivers for the US, which mislead customers in thinking that they’re applying via an official channel and that the additional processing fee is mandatory.

The Times says EU official are worried that holidaymakers applying for visa waivers run the risk of encountering fraudsters who will ‘engage in abusive practices’.