Vacationers to sure European nations will say goodbye to passport stamps and expertise a brand new border management course of as Europe’s long-awaited new Entry/Exit System started its rollout Oct. 12. The launch of the system, which makes use of biometric knowledge as an alternative of passport stamps to register the visits of non-European Union vacationers, was initially anticipated in 2021.
The EES is obligatory for all non-EU nationals, and you can’t decide out of getting your biometric knowledge captured. In the event you refuse, you’ll be denied entry.
What’s the EES?
The EES is an automatic data expertise system designed to register non-EU nationals touring for a brief keep to any of the 29 European nations utilizing the system. A “quick keep” is outlined as as much as 90 days inside any 180-day interval. One of many system’s primary features is figuring out those that overstay the allotted time.
“The EES modernises border administration by growing effectivity and high quality of processes on the border. It additionally simplifies journey and makes it safer,” in response to the official web site of the European Union.
The nations utilizing the system are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
EES nations embody 25 of the 27 EU member states, with solely Cyprus and Eire not collaborating. These nations will proceed to carry out handbook border passport checks. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are non-EU nations however are members of the Schengen Space and comply with the short-stay guidelines.
When will it’s totally carried out?
On Oct. 12, 2025, the system started a six-month phased launch. Throughout that interval, knowledge assortment will steadily be launched at border crossing factors. It’s anticipated to be totally carried out by April 10, 2026.
In the course of the rollout interval, vacationers might not have their biometric knowledge collected at each border crossing or their private data registered within the system, and passports will proceed to be stamped as standard.
On Monday, Oct. 13, Eric Rosen, TPG’s director of content material, departed Amsterdam for Los Angeles on KLM.
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“Together with EU passengers, I used to be directed to e-gates that took my image and scanned my passport, then I used to be nonetheless directed to speak to frame patrol brokers at a close-by kiosk who gave me a bodily passport stamp,” he stated. “I requested concerning the rollout, they usually stated it might be a while earlier than they stopped stamping passports, in response to what they’d been informed by supervisors.”
In accordance with the web site of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), the brand new EES system might be carried out in phases beginning Nov. 3. Different airports, together with Germany’s Dusseldorf Airport (DUS), Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO), Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) and Luxembourg Airport (LUX), started utilizing the brand new system instantly Oct 12. This isn’t an exhaustive listing of airports already utilizing the EES, so it is price double-checking the airport’s web site earlier than you depart.
How US vacationers are affected
The following time you fly by means of an airport with the brand new border crossing level system, you could present your private knowledge out of your passport, together with your full identify and date of delivery. Passport management officers will scan 4 of your fingerprints and/or take a photograph of your face to be saved in a digital file known as the Biometric Matching Service. You might be able to register a few of your knowledge prematurely utilizing a self-service system if it is obtainable at your border crossing level or a cellular app if the nation you are touring to has one. Nevertheless, you’ll nonetheless have to see a passport management officer.
The fingerprints of kids youthful than 12 won’t be scanned.
The EES tracks the date and placement of every entry and exit, together with whether or not you have been refused entry. Information of entries, exits and refusals might be stored for 3 years after which robotically erased. Vacationers can request entry to their knowledge, request corrections and ask that their knowledge be deleted.
Chances are you’ll have to arrive on the airport sooner than standard whereas vacationers navigate the brand new techniques.
In accordance with LUX’s web site, “whereas the introduction of the brand new EES system might result in barely longer border processing occasions, the Luxembourg Airport groups stay totally dedicated to offering a easy and nice journey expertise. Devoted employees might be obtainable to help passengers, and we are going to proceed to intently monitor the state of affairs to make sure the journey by means of the airport stays as seamless and cozy as attainable.”
PRG’s web site advises non-EU nationals to anticipate “longer ready occasions at each arrival and departure border management.”
Backside line
The EES is just not the one change coming to European journey. The European Journey Info and Authorisation System remains to be anticipated to be carried out for visa-free vacationers within the final quarter of 2026. The ETIAS utility payment will now be 20 euros (about $23), a rise from the initially introduced payment of seven euros (about $8).
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