The EU’s Entry/Exit System, known as EES, records non-EU visitors, including UK passport holders, each time they enter or leave the Schengen area. Travellers have their face photographed and, from age 12, their fingerprints scanned. Until 6 September 2026, border posts could pause these checks when queues grew too long. That flexibility was due to end on that date.
In mid-September it emerged that nine countries had told the European Commission they couldn’t yet run the checks in full everywhere without serious disruption. They are France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Italy and Switzerland. The Commission said the rules were unchanged and that it was working with those countries to solve the remaining problems by the end of the year. France’s interior ministry confirmed that flexibility would be allowed at French borders until the end of 2026.
At the border
EES is still running in all of these countries. What varies is whether the face and fingerprint scans are taken at a particular airport, port or station on a particular day. Each family member is processed in turn, and children under 12 don’t give fingerprints.
Queues
In October, the organisations representing Europe’s airports and airlines said waits at some passport controls still routinely went over two hours, and up to five hours at the busiest times. They have asked for the power to pause the checks during long queues to be made permanent.
ETIAS, the separate online travel authorisation for visa-free visitors, hasn’t started yet, and there’s nothing to apply for.
This story was updated in October 2026 with the latest figures on border queues.
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