British tourists heading to Europe this weekend could be met with hours-long delays at border control, as the European Union launches a major new border system on Sunday, October 12. The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) will affect 29 European countries, meaning all 27 EU member states that are part of the Schengen Area except Ireland and Cyprus, plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. The system will apply to all passengers from countries outside the EU and Schengen area who are entering the 29 participating countries for short-term stays.
Non-EU citizens who hold long-stay visas or are legally resident in an EU member state will be exempt from the new biometric checks. British travellers, however, have been warned that they may need to allow up to four extra hours just to clear passport checks when arriving in popular European destinations.
Not all European countries will be implementing this straight away and they will gradually start to introduce the EES over a period of six months.
Some countries, like the Czech Republic, Estonia and Luxembourg, plan to enable checks immediately from Sunday, while Spain, will initially trial the system on just one UK flight arriving to Madrid on Sunday, The Independent reported.
In Switzerland, the system will launch at Basel and Geneva airports on Sunday and in Germany, only Düsseldorf Airport will begin using the system from October 12.
Once fully operational, every Schengen border crossing will log entries and exits in a central database, capturing passport data, a facial scan and fingerprints.
Although the actual scanning process takes about one to two minutes, experts have warned that high footfall at busy airports may lead to severe congestion.
Julia Lo-Bue Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership who has over 30 years of experience in the travel industry has warned travellers to prepare for significant delays and advised travellers to arrive at the airport much earlier than usual, recommending they allow between three to four extra hours when entering EU countries from Sunday onwards.
She told the BBC Today programme: “The concern will be, when you have flights arriving at one of these airports, at the same time, it’s already a bottleneck – this is going to add even more of an issue.
“So our advice is actually to make sure, where possible, you’re leaving yourself between three and four hours from the point of entry.”
She added: “If you’re not leaving yourself enough time and you unfortunately arrive at an airport where there is a bottleneck, which in a lot of places there are already, this is going to add another layer of frustration and delay.”
Once registered, travellers’ biometric data will remain valid for three years or until their passport expires. From 12 October, only freight and coach passengers at Dover and Folkestone will be subject to the new checks, with car passengers not affected until 1 November.
For Eurostar travellers, only business and premium class passengers will undergo EES registration from Sunday, with checks for all other passengers not starting until January 2026.