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Introduction of European Entry-Exit Scheme (EES)

Howardh

Howardh

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Adsy125 said:
Had to wait for over an hour both entering a leaving Copenhagen airport recently, neither of which was much fun. Arrivals seemed very poorly organised, with 3 lines feeding to 5 manned passport control booths, and the staff deciding to send people from 2 of the lines to one booth each, while the third line went to 3 different booths!

Departures weren't much better, with the queue extending far beyond where the barriers end. As much as it pained me to do so, arriving 3 hours before the flight was clearly necessary.

It was clear from talking to the staff that the airport was really struggling to cope with the numbers, and probably needed to put a cap on the number of non-schengen flights they are willing to accept. It's my first experience entering the EU where I've been asked so many questions, which didn't seem to be unique to me. I'm certain this isn't helping the queues.

It's such a poor welcome to a country when it's clear that they can't anticipate demand and provide suitable infrastructure for their visitors. It's quite a contrast to the experience at St Pancras where I've never been waiting more than 30 minutes to get through the whole lot.
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That's a good idea - but if they reduce by, say, 25% it still doesn't help if they all arrive at once! The Irish would still have to go to the passport booth even thought they don't require EES adding to the queues?
I imagine, though, that if "popular" airports have restrictions on flights from non-Schengen, that will rattle the cages of the budget airlines who depend on popular airports (or, more specifically, cheap ones!) for their profits.
 
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Reliablebeam

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Spamcan81 said:
Registered my details on the Travel to Europe app for my arrival in Sweden on Thursday and journey submitted. Went to enter details for departure but when I get to the point of departure section, it doesn’t recognise Arlanda or anywhere else in Sweden for that matter.
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It doesn't seem to accept departures at the minute, at least for Sweden!
 
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Spamcan81

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Reliablebeam said:
It doesn't seem to accept departures at the minute, at least for Sweden!
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It would seem not. Taking the selfie for the arrival section was a faff too. Too light, too shady, either too light or too dark, I was smiling…..
Eventually it let me skip that bit and finally it was job done. That app is definitely work in progress.
 
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Class73Electro

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hmm... Have a two day trip to France coming up. Just checked on the EES Checker Site, and is throwing up the error:

"Error
Your remaining authorised stay cannot currently be calculated due to temporary incomplete data in the Entry/Exit System."

Should I be concerned?
 
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ClivePage

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We flew back from Keflavik, Iceland, at the weekend. Iceland is not an EU member (though there is a referendum on the subject shortly) but it is part of the Schengen zone, which I didn't know. That means, I guess, that the UK could be too if we wanted. That would solve all our current EES problems and also allow our police forces to discover the records of all those convicted abroad, which they haven't been able to do since we left the EU.

Keflavik was a hell-hole: check-in was all automated and it took 10 minutes just to reach the first set of machines which issues boarding cards and baggage tags. Then the machine gave various error messages the first few times. Then one could move to another queue taking about 15 minutes to get to the point where tagged baggage could be loaded on their conveyor system. Then over 30 minutes in the security queue. Then a 20 minute walk to the gate. I think our passports and boarding cards were checked 4 times in total - it might have been 5 times. Than a 60 minute wait standing in a corridor with no seating, before finally being allowed to board our flight. Fortunately the flight was late or we might not have made it through security in time, even though we got to the airport over 2 hours ahead of supposed take-off.

I like Iceland, which I've visited several times, but will not risk using Keflavik again.
 
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dorsetdesiro

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Class73Electro said:
hmm... Have a two day trip to France coming up. Just checked on the EES Checker Site, and is throwing up the error:

"Error
Your remaining authorised stay cannot currently be calculated due to temporary incomplete data in the Entry/Exit System."

Should I be concerned?
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The whole thing is a real shambles indeed. I read somewhere there is advice for British travellers to keep every documentation - flight tickets, hotel bookings etc - for some time after the trip as evidence in case things go wrong, the system may wrongly accuse them of something thus blocking future entry or risk of arrest while staying there.

Thought the point of the EES is to prevent things like that but could have the opposite effect due to Brussels' intransigence.
 
signed

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dorsetdesiro said:
The whole thing is a real shambles indeed. I read somewhere there is advice for British travellers to keep every documentation - flight tickets, hotel bookings etc - for some time after the trip as evidence in case things go wrong, the system may wrongly accuse them of something thus blocking future entry or risk of arrest while staying there.
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It is always something people should do (and since now most to everything is digital, it's easy to just open your email inbox), even the best systems ain't failsafe and it will save a lot of pain.

Example: If you visit the US, it happens that your exit isn't recorded or misrecorded. If that happens, in the past you needed to post your documents to the US. But now apparently you can do it over email. And this is despite their system being monolithic and 100% digital.
 
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Belperpete

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dorsetdesiro said:
The whole thing is a real shambles indeed. I read somewhere there is advice for British travellers to keep every documentation - flight tickets, hotel bookings etc - for some time after the trip as evidence in case things go wrong, the system may wrongly accuse them of something thus blocking future entry or risk of arrest while staying there.
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As opposed to the old system, where a faded or unreadable stamp in your passport could lead to a passport officer accusing you of overstaying.
 
Vexed

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Class73Electro said:
hmm... Have a two day trip to France coming up. Just checked on the EES Checker Site, and is throwing up the error:

"Error
Your remaining authorised stay cannot currently be calculated due to temporary incomplete data in the Entry/Exit System."

Should I be concerned?
Click to expand...
I am in Spain at the moment and just used it and got the same error.

I arrived at Santander by ferry and none of our passports were stamped or biometrics checked. Other lanes might have been different.
 
styles

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Belperpete said:
As opposed to the old system, where a faded or unreadable stamp in your passport could lead to a passport officer accusing you of overstaying.
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On my last trip (where I entered in Germany and exited in Switzerland) I have a Swiss passport official look at the faded golf leaf print on the front of my passport and chuckle. I said to her, sorry, it's seen a lot of use recently. She said no, it's no problem, it's just British passports for you! Thankfully the passport pages are nearly full so while I don't relish the expense of getting a new passport so soon, at least it'll have a legible cover. I've heard that certain countries like Thailand can be incredibly particular about the state of the passport though.
 
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island

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Howardh said:
The Irish would still have to go to the passport booth even thought they don't require EES adding to the queues?
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Irish citizens use the EU e-gates at Copenhagen airport, just like all other EU citizens.
signed said:
Example: If you visit the US, it happens that your exit isn't recorded or misrecorded. If that happens, in the past you needed to post your documents to the US. But now apparently you can do it over email. And this is despite their system being monolithic and 100% digital.
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They are rolling out an iOS app that allows you to submit a photo of yourself and scan of your passport, alongside your verified GPS location, to verify departure in circumstances where it is not properly recorded.
 
Vexed

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Vexed said:
I am in Spain at the moment and just used it and got the same error.

I arrived at Santander by ferry and none of our passports were stamped or biometrics checked. Other lanes might have been different.
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After exiting today (everyone out of the car into a shipping container for full photo & fingerprints on a kiosk, no questions about my stay this time which you can get at airport kiosks maybe on entry?) I'm getting the same error though I'll admit it's only an hour since I've exited!

Interestingly the kiosk was the only thing to do - no other eGate or showing passport at a booth. I suppose because it's heavily staffed they're happy that's secure enough. We even had the car checked between Brittany Ferries check in and passport control by the police, I'd assume to make sure there were was no one hiding in the car.
 
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Spamcan81

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Departing Arlanda T2 on Monday was a doddle. Border staff just took a Quick Look at my passport, no questions asked, photo and finger prints done and I was on my way in no time at all. Due to the staggered nature of people arriving for the flight, there was no real queueing either.
 
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eoff

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Through Schiphol into EU on Sunday, e-gates don't accept me and agent can't explain why (I have registered for EES multiple times)
Throug Schipol yesterday exit EU, only 3-4 e-gates active out of a long row of them.
 
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Railguy1

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Last two times I’ve had to use the machines they struggled to do a facial scan and get fingerprints so I was sent to an agent instead.
 
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alex397

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Interesting I’m hearing from a friend that he wasn’t properly ‘checked out’ of the EU when leaving Brussels on the Eurostar. He was a few weeks later interrogated on entering Britain at Stansted after visiting Sweden. Proof of tickets helped to get him through border control but they advised him to call a number to sort it out. Another Brit had the same issue just after him.

Clearly some teething issues here. Obviously the more restrictions that are placed, the more things that can go wrong. If only politicians realised this.

I last left the EU through Brussels so it will be interesting to see if this affects my next trip on October.

EDIT:
Apologies, I got the information wrong. It was Sweden who had an issue, not British passport control.

When entering Sweden, the border staff couldn’t see when he last exited the EU. So he had to show his Brussels-London Eurostar ticket to prove when he did leave the EU.

Interesting he spoke to someone else who had just had the same issue, who also had last travelled from the EU from Brussels-London
 
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High Dyke

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When I travelled from the Netherlands last year, it confused the Dutch Border staff at Hoek Van Holland, as I was boarding the ferry to Harwich. The saw my passport stamped by French Customs, and I had to explain that the check was done at London St Pancras; I'd travelled out via Eurostar.

When I last travelled over in February, using Eurostar both ways, then my passport wouldn't scan at St Pancras. This led to a manual check at the security desk. Travelling back from Amsterdam then yet again my fingerprints and photo were taken at border control. Are these records not kept? I'm curious to know why I've gone through a similar check-in process four times in now.
 
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zero

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alex397 said:
Interesting I’m hearing from a friend that he wasn’t properly ‘checked out’ of the EU when leaving Brussels on the Eurostar. He was a few weeks later interrogated on entering Britain at Stansted after visiting Sweden. Proof of tickets helped to get him through border control but they advised him to call a number to sort it out. Another Brit had the same issue just after him.
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Why would the UK question someone because the EU's system is not fit for purpose?

If he is a British citizen, why would they care even if he did overstay in the EU?
 
signed

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zero said:
If he is a British citizen, why would they care even if he did overstay in the EU?
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And also why would the UK have access to the data in the EES at all? Sure there may be intelligence leads shared but not a missing EU exit.
alex397 said:
I’m hearing from a friend that he wasn’t properly ‘checked out’ of the EU when leaving Brussels on the Eurostar. He was a few weeks later interrogated on entering Britain at Stansted after visiting Sweden. Proof of tickets helped to get him through border control but they advised him to call a number to sort it out. Another Brit had the same issue just after him.
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Wouldn’t be surprised if UKBF either had no exit record leaving the UK (but even then why would the UK care about missing exit record for a law abiding Briton) or other suspicion arised.

Would be interesting to know if the number is a UK or a Belgian number? In most EU country data correction is basically Email/fax or mail only.
 
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zero

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cool110 said:
They wouldn't, because they don't keep exit records at all
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Transport operators must record the passport details of people departing the CTA and submit them to UKBF.

At St Pancras this is done when Eurostar staff swipe your passport after security and before French immigration.

However, you could use different passports to enter and exit the UK (in some cases you must use different passports, for example a US/UK citizen going to the US), and UKBF may not be able to link the records - particularly if someone has multiple citizenships which do not include the UK.

UKBF will also not have records of people departing the UK to Ireland and then onwards, although there will likely be some data sharing with Ireland in the future if not already.
 
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scarby

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alex397 said:
Interesting I’m hearing from a friend that he wasn’t properly ‘checked out’ of the EU when leaving Brussels on the Eurostar. He was a few weeks later interrogated on entering Britain at Stansted after visiting Sweden. Proof of tickets helped to get him through border control but they advised him to call a number to sort it out. Another Brit had the same issue just after him.
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Sorry I don’t fully understand this, perhaps you can clarify?

As others have noted, if he is a British citizen and passport holder, why would they care? I have both British and Swedish passports, so I don’t of course use EES, so presumably every time I use the e-gate coming into the UK the system just sees “valid UK passport “ and opens the gate?

When you say “proof of tickets helped him get through border control” if he is British where else would he go? To stay eternally in the airport?
 
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alex397

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scarby said:
Sorry I don’t fully understand this, perhaps you can clarify?

As others have noted, if he is a British citizen and passport holder, why would they care? I have both British and Swedish passports, so I don’t of course use EES, so presumably every time I use the e-gate coming into the UK the system just sees “valid UK passport “ and opens the gate?

When you say “proof of tickets helped him get through border control” if he is British where else would he go? To stay eternally in the airport?
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Apologies, I got the information wrong. It was Sweden who had an issue, not British passport control.

When entering Sweden, the border staff couldn’t see when he last exited the EU. So he had to show his Brussels-London Eurostar ticket to prove when he did leave the EU.
 
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scarby

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alex397 said:
Apologies, I got the information wrong. It was Sweden who had an issue, not British passport control.

When entering Sweden, the border staff couldn’t see when he last exited the EU. So he had to show his Brussels-London Eurostar ticket to prove when he did leave the EU.
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Thanks!
 
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