New European Entry System

[Butts]

Does anyone know what is going on with regards to this ?

Last week I had my photo and prints taken on entry at Amsterdam Schiphol and thought great that's me now on the system.

However I had to repeat the process in Toulouse this week .

Is it not all connected up and if so what's the point in doing it?

 

[FinsburyPark]

Its a hogde podge right now as some border crossings have it an some don't.

It's running on a progessive roll out with the first locations starting to use it on 12/10/2025 and all locations coming online in 10/04/2026.

This can lead to situations in the interim where if you entry and exit point are different you may have to do it at one and not the other.

 

[chrisjo]

We're going to Malaga next week and my partner has been following the the roll-out very closely on various expat chat groups. By all accounts it's a complete and utter shambles, you could walk straight through, or it could take you an extra two hours to leave the airport. Likewise coming back, the advice is now to arrive three hours before departure to be sure of getting to your gate on time, but you could well end up twiddling your thumbs for 2.5 hours. It's a lottery.

 

[FinsburyPark]

We're going to Malaga next week and my partner has been following the the roll-out very closely on various expat chat groups. By all accounts it's a complete and utter shambles, you could walk straight through, or it could take you an extra two hours to leave the airport. Likewise coming back, the advice is now to arrive three hours before departure to be sure of getting to your gate on time, but you could well end up twiddling your thumbs for 2.5 hours. It's a lottery.

I am going there in Febuary for an extreme day trip. I can't say I'm looking forward to this side of it.

In theory I should be OK due to having an EU member state passport, but I also hear that there was confusion as to which lines are which and in that confusion EU citizens and non EU citizens ended up in each others lines as the signage was said to be unclear.

That said, Febuary is 2 months away and it gives them time to do what they need to do to get the process sorted out, both for EU citizens and non EU citizens alike.

On the Extreme Day Trips facebook group Málaga Airport has been mentioned a lot and I can see some British expat social media is actively discussing it as well.

 

[Segedunum]

I flew into Salzburg yesterday where we were bussed to a new but totally out of the way immigration hall. I did the biometrics and registered all my details but the machine didn't make it entirely clear if everything had been saved. After being stamped in by a border officer anyway we were then bussed again to Schengen arrivals.

I'm flying back from the even-smaller Linz Airport, so we'll see what happens there.

 

[Butts]

All this is really annoying, especially as EU Citizens are able to use the same E Gates we do when entering the UK.

Perhaps in retaliation we should have UK only lines.

 

[S101]

All this is really annoying, especially as EU Citizens are able to use the same E Gates we do when entering the UK.

Perhaps in retaliation we should have UK only lines.

This...

I find it really annoying coming back from a country that has gates for their own residents, yet our gates invite half the world through the same gate I have to use as a British Citizen.

Does anyone know what is going on with regards to this ?

Last week I had my photo and prints taken on entry at Amsterdam Schiphol and thought great that's me now on the system.

However I had to repeat the process in Toulouse this week .

Is it not all connected up and if so what's the point in doing it?

Just come back from Oslo, and it added about 30 mins onto getting through customs. They took finger prints, and a photo. Coming back, they scanned my fingers while looking at passport, no time added to the process.

 

[MalaiseForever]

Not had any issues at Helsinki since EES came into operation.
Flying into Tenerife South next weekend and I am not confident the Spanish will be as organised or efficient as the Finns.

 

[chrisjo]

Not had any issues at Helsinki since EES came into operation.
Flying into Tenerife South next weekend and I am not confident the Spanish will be as organised or efficient as the Finns.

You got that right, we've been keeping an eye on the situation at Canarian airports as an aside from Malaga, and I can assure you that your misgivings are well founded.

 

[FinsburyPark]

All this is really annoying, especially as EU Citizens are able to use the same E Gates we do when entering the UK.

Perhaps in retaliation we should have UK only lines.

Even if we did, things would not change much as the e gate lines at UK airports are often 5 mins or less.

Also do we really wish to start an immigration line version of the cold war with what is our closes trading partner?

This is something that Spain needs to work on, as problems of this magnitude, don't seem to exist in other locations using EES.

 

[Butts]

Even if we did, things would not change much as the e gate lines at UK airports are often 5 mins or less.

Also do we really wish to start an immigration line version of the cold war with what is our closes trading partner?

This is something that Spain needs to work on, as problems of this magnitude, don't seem to exist in other locations using EES.

We didn't start it they did by not reciprocating the privileges we extend to them on UK arrival.

 

[johncrossley]

All this is really annoying, especially as EU Citizens are able to use the same E Gates we do when entering the UK.

Perhaps in retaliation we should have UK only lines.

UK citizens are not being treated any different to any other non-EU citizens. The UK has had the opportunity to avoid this situation. They could have joined Schengen. They didn't have to leave the EU.

UK passport gates also accept US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Japan passports. Do you also expect those countries to accept UK passports at their passport gates?

 

[S101]

Do you also expect those countries to accept UK passports at their passport gates?

Yes.

 

[chrisjo]

It would be nice if this thread could concentrate on the workings (or not) of the new entry system, rather than going off into another squabble about Brexit. Please?

 

[Terry Tibbs]

Warsaw rolled out EES about 3 weeks ago and I was there for the first day. It was painfully slow. The last 2/3 times I’ve been through it has steadily become faster. But Slovakia was very quick when I was there, again just a few weeks ago. I suppose it’s as the agents get used to the new system. Each person has finger prints and photo taken. It’s hard to find out where and when the system is being rolled out. I would definitely allow more than 2hrs to arrive and check in especially if you know in advance your destination is new to EES. Like pre - EES, if you’re unlucky enough to arrive/depart when multiple large long haul planes containing large numbers of non EU passengers are arriving/departing then you can expect a very large wait. I believe in time as the system beds in we will be able to use E gates and save all the queuing. When that is though I do not know.

 

[Llanigraham]

We didn't start it they did by not reciprocating the privileges we extend to them on UK arrival.

Not quite.
The UK were offered a system that would have eliminated all this but WE refused to sign that agreement.

 

[sh24]

I’ve been through VIE and ATH recently. Lots of machines at ATH but not a hint of EES being deployed.

 

[Butts]

Trouble is it isn't consistent or seemingly joined up.

If the first entry into an EU country required it fair enough you should then be on the system and revert to the E Gates at any further entry exits?

Amsterdam photo and prints on entry e-gates on exit.

Toulouse photo and prints on entry and exit.

Why do you need to exit via PP control anyway - we don't in the UK ?

Even the French were moaning about it as they have to exit via this half-baked set up..

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Dec 2025 ==

Not quite.
The UK were offered a system that would have eliminated all this but WE refused to sign that agreement.

Which system was that ?

 

[Krokodil]

Even if we did, things would not change much as the e gate lines at UK airports are often 5 mins or less.

Also do we really wish to start an immigration line version of the cold war with what is our closes trading partner?

This is something that Spain needs to work on, as problems of this magnitude, don't seem to exist in other locations using EES.

Spainish borders already had a reputation for inefficiency, I'm pretty sure that it's partly down to bloody-mindedness.

What's the situation at St Pancras? I'm going through there at the beginning of January.

 

[Buzby]

Perhaps in retaliation we should have UK only lines.

Why? It was our ‘fault’ we left the party…. We’re in no position to make demands!

 

[sh24]

Spainish borders already had a reputation for inefficiency, I'm pretty sure that it's partly down to bloody-mindedness.

What's the situation at St Pancras? I'm going through there at the beginning of January.

St Pancras was normal last week. The whole facility is horrible, but no worse than pre EES. You’ll get an email warning you about it but in reality it seems not to be used.

 

[johncrossley]

Why do you need to exit via PP control anyway - we don't in the UK ?

The UK collects passport information at the port or at St Pancras, or in the case of air travel, you submit it as Advance Passenger Information. Schengen countries rigorously enforce the number of days you stay so the exit date needs to be accurately recorded.

 

[Butts]

Why? It was our ‘fault’ we left the party…. We’re in no position to make demands!

If they had to start doing what we have to it might exert a bit of pressure on their Politicians to ease up a bit ?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Dec 2025 ==

The UK collects passport information at the port or at St Pancras, or in the case of air travel, you submit it as Advance Passenger Information. Schengen countries rigorously enforce the number of days you stay so the exit date needs to be accurately recorded.

Surely if you were going through an Electronic Gate to exit this would record the relevant data ?

 

[Doppelganger]

It would be nice if this thread could concentrate on the workings (or not) of the new entry system, rather than going off into another squabble about Brexit. Please?

You might not like the Brexit discussion, but this is totally a consequence of it...

If the UK were still a European Union member, do you think this topic would have come up?

It would be nice if there was a reality check

 

[Butts]

You might not like the Brexit discussion, but this is totally a consequence of it...

If the UK were still a European Union member, do you think this topic would have come up?

It would be nice if there was a reality check

There's no reason why we couldn't have left the European Union with some sort of agreement akin to The Common Travel Area we have with The Republic of Ireland.

As it stands the EU Citizens can breeze into the UK using the same method we do whilst this is not reciprocated for us.

Do they have a 90 Day limit like we do ?

 

[stadler]

There is an entire long thread discussing it on the general discussion section of this forum:

Introduction of European Entry-Exit Scheme (EES)

I am intending to travel to Vienna at the end of October, then subsequently travel to Germany, and then return to the UK in early November. I understand that it is intended to introduce the EES at the beginning of November (the new cubicles seem to be all powered up and running when I passed...

www.railforums.co.uk

The rollout of EES seems like a mess. Different countries and airports and seaports and border crossings all with different implementation policies. Some have still not started rolling it out. Some are only rolling it out at some counters meaning it is mixed. It is such chaos. You would think they could have rolled it out in a more uniformed manner.

 

[johncrossley]

Surely if you were going through an Electronic Gate to exit this would record the relevant data ?

Maybe that will be the case once all systems are up and running, but at the moment they need to rely on stamps in passports.

 

[signed]

Do they have a 90 Day limit like we do ?

6 months, as with every other nationalities.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Dec 2025 ==

You would think they could have rolled it out in a more uniformed manner.

Good luck with that, when you are at that scale of differences, you can't do that much uniformly. In an ideal world, sure.

There has to be 1000+ airports with non-Schengen flights alone, in different countries with different culture, different procurment and laws, it is indeed a recipe for disaster.

 

[Mag_seven]

There is an entire long thread discussing it on the general discussion section of this forum:

Introduction of European Entry-Exit Scheme (EES)

I am intending to travel to Vienna at the end of October, then subsequently travel to Germany, and then return to the UK in early November. I understand that it is intended to introduce the EES at the beginning of November (the new cubicles seem to be all powered up and running when I passed...

www.railforums.co.uk

The rollout of EES seems like a mess. Different countries and airports and seaports and border crossings all with different implementation policies. Some have still not started rolling it out. Some are only rolling it out at some counters meaning it is mixed. It is such chaos. You would think they could have rolled it out in a more uniformed manner.

Yes can we all please use the existing long running thread on this. Thanks.