Introduction of European Entry-Exit Scheme (EES)

[ninja-lewis]

I’m struggling to understand why EES has all this biometric registration. A biometric passports has, um, biometrics stored within it. Granted UK passports don’t contain fingerprints, but they do contain facial recognition data. Surely a biometic passport is all that is needed to record entry and exits. I can see that replacing your passport might be a way of circumventing the recording of the 90/180 say rule, but vanishingly few people are going to do that regularly. Is it that biometric passports are not trusted?

To match the holder to the passport?

 

[jthjth]

To match the holder to the passpport?

Isn’t that the purpose of the biometrics contained within the passport’s chip? E-gate scans passport, reads biometric information about the holder’s face, takes picture of holder and then compares photo with biometrics.

 

[MicroLithium]

I’m struggling to understand why EES has all this biometric registration. A biometric passports has, um, biometrics stored within it. Granted UK passports don’t contain fingerprints, but they do contain facial recognition data. Surely a biometic passport is all that is needed to record entry and exits. I can see that replacing your passport might be a way of circumventing the recording of the 90/180 say rule, but vanishingly few people are going to do that regularly. Is it that biometric passports are not trusted?

It was apparently very common for HGV drivers in Eastern Europe to replace passports to get around the 90 day rule, to the extent that there were protests when EES was introduced, in theory closing that loophole

 

[jthjth]

It was apparently very common for HGV drivers in Eastern Europe to replace passports to get around the 90 day rule, to the extent that there were protests when EES was introduced, in theory closing that loophole

That’s interesting, thanks.

As a side note, there’s a tool here

European Union - EES / ETIAS

travel-europe.europa.eu

that shows you how many of your 90 days you have left. I’ve just checked mine and it doesn’t seem to have noticed by trip of a few days in late April. This was entry via St Pancras and exit via Rotterdam, no passport stamping.
Has anyone else got a trip subtracted from their 90 days indicated on this site? Apparently only trips since 10th April are counted.

 

[Mawkie]

From the bbc: France suspends extra EU border checks at Dover after hours-long queues

French authorities have suspended extra EU border checks at Dover after thousands of holidaymakers heading to the port faced long queues in soaring temperatures.

The port said they had escalated the "challenging situation" with border authorities, and the change would help clear queues at the terminal and congestion on surrounding roads.

Travellers had earlier faced up to two hours' delay reaching the port and up to a further two and half hours to complete processing at the terminal on Saturday morning.

By lunchtime traffic was "slow moving" and the processing time at check-in was under an hour, the port said. Just after 14:00, it said traffic was "free-flowing".

The May bank holiday is being viewed as a test for new European Union border checks.

Before boarding a cross-Channel ferry at Dover travellers have to go through French border checks.

Under the European Union's new digital system, known as the Entry/Exit System (EES), biometric checks including fingerprinting and facial scanning are due be introduced for non-EU travellers.

French authorities have not yet switched on the machines that will be used for these checks at the port but border officials at Dover were still having to take details from travellers to enter into a database. This in turn led to longer waits this weekend.

Now these additional measures have been suspended and traffic delays are starting to ease. Conventional checks at the border are still in place.

The EES checks will eventually be active at every border crossing in 29 participating countries in the Schengen Area.

Passengers who miss their ferry crossing due to waiting times will be able to travel on the next available crossing, the port said.

Port of Dover's CEO, Doug Bannister, told the BBC it was expecting more than 8,000 cars to travel through the port on Saturday.

He added that 84 kiosks had been installed to accommodate the new digital system and "handle these peak volumes efficiently and safely".

But "despite having assurances from authorities, from our government, from the French around how this would work it really was slow processing this morning," said Bannister. "I think we're all quite frustrated".

LeShuttle, which operates the Channel Tunnel service, has also reported delays of around one and a half hours to train services between Folkestone and Calais. It said there were longer processing times at the border.

On the railways, major engineering works are taking place between London St Pancras International and London Blackfriars, York and Darlington and Bristol Parkway and Newport, with services not running or significantly altered as a result.

Industrial action is also affecting West Midlands Railway services on Saturday.

As of about 15:00 on Saturday, Traffic England had issued 22 severe congestion alerts, external across motorways and major A-roads.

At the same time, Traffic Scotland's website showed some heavy traffic around areas in the central belt, while Traffic Wales reported severe disruption on the A40 Eastbound.

It comes as the UK is forecast for an unusually hot May bank holiday.

Temperatures are due to continue to increase on Saturday after the warmest day of the year was recorded on Friday, with a high of 28.4C at Heathrow in west London, Cranwell in Lincolnshire and Cambridge.

Daytime highs are forecast to reach the upper 20s Celsius in many areas, with the low 30s Celsius likely in the week ahead.

Amber heat health alerts are in place for parts of England with temperatures forecast to continue to climb above 30C over the weekend. The May record is 32.8C.

 

[js517]

I've just passed through Dover and it appears the additional checks are still suspended. No fingerprinting, no questions, no machines.

 

[route101]

I've just passed through Dover and it appears the additional checks are still suspended. No fingerprinting, no questions, no machines.

Are they back to stamping?

 

[js517]

Are they back to stamping?

Our passports did not get stamped, no.

 

[pitdiver]

My wife and I have just returned from the Canary Islands. On arrival at Fuerventura Airport we were prepared to queue up to register. However just as we joined the queue an official waved us through and directed us to the Police kiosk. The officer just checked our passport and wished a good day. The same happened on departure we were just waved through to the police kiosk.
No issues. However I don't think this will be the same in September when I think it may be less busy.

 

[jthjth]

Our passports did not get stamped, no.

See my post 874. It seems they have, at the moment, given up any attempt to count how many days have been spent inside Schengen.
The NL border people when we were exiting via Rotterdam Eurostar couldn’t see on their computer our entry a few days previously via the French border at St Pancras. I’ve a suspicion that the central database isn’t working properly….

 

[Ted633]

My wife and I have just returned from the Canary Islands. On arrival at Fuerventura Airport we were prepared to queue up to register. However just as we joined the queue an official waved us through and directed us to the Police kiosk. The officer just checked our passport and wished a good day. The same happened on departure we were just waved through to the police kiosk.
No issues. However I don't think this will be the same in September when I think it may be less busy.

I was in Tenerife last weekend. EES was in use, but there were lots of machines and no queues. Only one of us (out of 8) had issues registering, even so we were all through in less than 15 minutes. On departure, there was again no queue and we were all through very quickly.
There was a bit of concern amongst us about the potential for queues (especially on the way home, with thought given to changing our transfer time), however all those concerns were unfounded and was a very smooth process in the end

 

[cactustwirly]

From the bbc: France suspends extra EU border checks at Dover after hours-long queues

I think anyone with half a brain would see all the EES checks at Dover on the first sunny bank holiday weekend to be a stupid idea. Especially when the queues will block up Dover and the M20

 

[eoff]

Are they back to stamping?

I think stamping is gone and EES has replaced it for relevant citizenship. There is no point in stamps now.

 

[peteb]

EES chaos at Amsterdam Central today. Arrived 1105am joined Eurostar queue, boarded train 1302, it was retimed to depart 1310, ie: +30, fortunately.

Only 4 NL border controls out of 8, only 2 of these for non EU. I'd estimate 80% of train passengers non EU..... only 4 UK border controls out of 8.

Very very slow leaving NL border owing to very chatty border guards asking all sorts of questions about why people were leaving NL, what had they been doing etc. Quite a lot of irritable people queuing!

Fingerprints didn't work, neither did camera, despite me having logged onto system several times. NL border control finally waved me through, declining my (I thought helpful) suggestion to stamp my passport.....

Problem is the tiny space between security scanners and border control. Only enough room for about 20 people at a time each side. If they made this space longer more security checks could be done more quickly.

Usual non-information from Eurostar: I used NS live departure boards to establish revised departure time.

Just as we boarded at 1302 there was a really shouty announcement saying doors were closing. But they didn't and we left at 1309.

One escalator out of action and no lift access to platform. Very poor infrastructure maintenance considering it's a bank holiday in both NL and UK, and train is full.

Admittedly BHX security has been nearly as bad in the past but they've now installed more scanners. Amsterdam Centraal Eurostar seems woefully inadequate on busy days. By comparison, a trip home in October from Amsterdam via Eurostar saw LCY-style short queues and swift boarding!!!

 

[Reliablebeam]

Not long ago had a trip to Sweden - Entered in Gothenburg Landvetter, exited Stockholm Arlanda. On exit at Arlanda the border guard couldn't find my entry details leading to him faffing around with his computer for about five minutes. I also agree their central database seems suspect. I also used the 'travel to europe' app again, and again it didn't make the general aggro and problems entering Sweden any more straightforward.

 

[mrmartin]

At Amsterdam airport airside transit from Schengen to non Schengen it now says how many days you've got left... but it was wrong. Only counted my days from the most recent trip, not the one a couple of weeks ago (which was fully EESed).

Agree with NL immigration btw. Horrendous queues at the machines, only 4 of 12ish working. I don't think I've ever been through AMS where there hasn't been a big (needless) queue of sorts, even pre EES. For example, not opening up the EU citizen queue to non EU when there isn't anyone waiting for it (and there were very few people waiting for it as they also had EU citizen passport gates!).

Post EES though given they now seem to have both EU and non EU able to use the same egates I imagine they'll improve it rapidly. I think a lot of EU people/politicians don't realise how poor the immigration system is because they've always had reserved lines for immigration, which seems to be more a thing of the past with EES.

 

[EYFanatic]

A fairly long wait at IJmuiden today - longer than usual, and they weren’t brisk before. Ferry docked around 9:45, there was an announcement that only small groups of passengers would be allowed to disembark at one time. This basically amounted to the passport queue being all the way back to the ship, with people being allowed to proceed in blocks. Only three windows open when we got in the terminal (of four) and the self service machines covered over. Only one window was processing non-EU arrivals for the majority of the time. We were dead last in the non-EU queue and got through just after 11, and so arrived at Centraal about 11:45. I don’t see how they can make EES efficient at IJmuiden since there’s no space for e-gates - everyone is bottle necked by the four manned lanes

That account from IJmuiden is odd as normally I've found it easy - I travel it so often that I am well known (for good reasons) by the boys and girls of the boarder guard service with normally a "Oh, you again"

Very curious about you saying only small groups allowed to disembark as normally the disabled are allowed to go first followed by the rest... Unless you get the old wink from the crew or play the Deck 6 Shuffle

 

[MicroLithium]

That account from IJmuiden is odd as normally I've found it easy - I travel it so often that I am well known (for good reasons) by the boys and girls of the boarder guard service with normally a "Oh, you again"

Very curious about you saying only small groups allowed to disembark as normally the disabled are allowed to go first followed by the rest... Unless you get the old wink from the crew or play the Deck 6 Shuffle

The announcement when the ship docked was that only small groups would be allowed to disembark at a time. I thought they might organise by deck or cabin number, but it amounted to staff holding people back at the escalator down to the arrival hall and at the entrance to the gangway. Only when there was space to proceed were people allowed to leave the ship. Non-EU passport holders were separated out on the gangway (into the slower EES queue). If you’re first off the boat it’s probably not a big delay but I would say each group took 3-4 minutes for fingerprints and photos, plus questioning about travel plans etc. It felt like a long time from the back of the queue!

Edit: fingerprints were also taken when boarding for departure back to Newcastle, which slowed that down a bit too

 

[Barnsley]

Travelled to Alicante on 19th and returned on 26th, on arrival, their airport Gestapo staff tried to make me register, I already am! Then went to e-gates, no problem, 5 mins if that, unfortunately no stamp, coming back was ridiculous, a queue a mile long as they force you to use the e-gates, despite the fact I counted 6 manned booths for manual checks with no queue whatsoever, was miles quicker when it was go to booth, stamp, see ya!!

 

[Howardh]

Next up, and so far "compulsory" by April next year, we will have to add the ETIAS on top. Whilst clearance should be done at home, I'm sure in the queue in front of you at the e-gates will be folks who haven't done this in advance, or have but it won't allow travel (but they did anyway) and so on, holding things up.

However - airlines are supposed to disallow you boarding the aircraft without your passport and ETIAS approval - so what facilities will there be at UK airports for airlines to do this, after all they just glance to see your passport/in date/right name etc?

What is Etias and when will I need to apply for one when travelling to the EU?

The online permit will cost €20 (£17) and is valid for three years

www.independent.co.uk

I've looked at the ETIAS in detail and one site suggested - as a 67-yr-old - I would need to enter my educational qualifications!! Anyway here's the Indy's take thanks to Simon Calder

What is Etias?​

British travellers and those from all other “third-country visa-free nations” (as the UK chose to become after Brexit) will need provide information in advance so that frontier officials know more about them on arrival – and to identify people who the EU wants to keep out. The new permit will apply to around 1.4 billion people from 59 visa-exempt countries and territories.

It will cost €20 (£17) and is valid for three years, or until the passport reaches three months to expiry, whichever comes first.


“UK nationals are required to have a valid Etias travel authorisation if they travel to any of the European countries requiring Etias for a short-term stay (90 days in any 180-day period),” says the EU.

The zone covers almost all of the EU apart from Ireland, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. British travellers will also need an Etias to visit Gibraltar.

When will the system start?​

The long-standing plan is for Etias to be launched six months after the successful roll-out of EES. Even so, the European Commission insists: “Etias will start operations in the last quarter of 2026.” The statement adds: “The European Union will inform about the specific date for the start of Etias several months prior to its launch.”

So, we must assume Etias will launch in the final quarter of 2026 – some time from October to December. But for at least another six months beyond that, the permit will be optional. So you will not need one before April 2027 at the earliest.

The EU says: “For travel during this time, travellers should already apply for their Etias travel authorisation, but those without one will not be refused entry as long as they fulfil all remaining entry conditions.”

Once the system is live, travellers will be required to submit personal information including name, address, contact details in Europe and passport data. They must also state an occupation (with job title and employer). Students must give the name of their educational establishment.

The applicant must give details of any serious convictions in the past 15 years (or 25 years in the case of terrorism). EU red tape expert Dr Nick Brown has listed 29 such offences, which include murder, rape, armed robbery, arson, fraud and corruption.

Travellers must also provide the reason for their journey (holiday, business, visiting family, etc), specify the Schengen area country where they intend to enter the zone, and provide the address of their first night’s stay. That looks as though it could pose a problem for tourists who like to make plans as they go along. In fact, the European Union helpfully points out that you are not bound to stick to that nominated location: “Once you have your travel authorisation in hand, you can change your plans.”

 

[Mike395]

Next up, and so far "compulsory" by April next year, we will have to add the ETIAS on top. Whilst clearance should be done at home, I'm sure in the queue in front of you at the e-gates will be folks who haven't done this in advance, or have but it won't allow travel (but they did anyway) and so on, holding things up.

However - airlines are supposed to disallow you boarding the aircraft without your passport and ETIAS approval - so what facilities will there be at UK airports for airlines to do this, after all they just glance to see your passport/in date/right name etc?

What is Etias and when will I need to apply for one when travelling to the EU?

The online permit will cost €20 (£17) and is valid for three years

www.independent.co.uk

I've looked at the ETIAS in detail and one site suggested - as a 67-yr-old - I would need to enter my educational qualifications!! Anyway here's the Indy's take thanks to Simon Calder

It'll almost certainly work electronically like any other country needing a travel authorisation, and not allow you to check in unless it sees the visa on the system. The technology for this already exists and is in use all over the world, including here, so I don't see that additional 'facilities' are needed anywhere.

 

[Howardh]

It'll almost certainly work electronically like any other country needing a travel authorisation, and not allow you to check in unless it sees the visa on the system. The technology for this already exists and is in use all over the world, including here, so I don't see that additional 'facilities' are needed anywhere.

It will be electronic, but how will airline staff check as you reach the gate outbound, before they let you on? Do they have passport readers, all they've ever done to me (outbound, from the UK) is look at my face/date/name? Not scanned or anything?

 

[Mike395]

It will be electronic, but how will airline staff check as you reach the gate outbound, before they let you on? Do they have passport readers, all they've ever done to me (outbound, from the UK) is look at my face/date/name? Not scanned or anything?

You won't be able to get that far; you need a boarding pass to clear security, and the ETIAS will be checked (like the Canadian/USA equivalents, amongst others) before that boarding pass is issued.

 

[Howardh]

You won't be able to get that far; you need a boarding pass to clear security, and the ETIAS will be checked (like the Canadian/USA equivalents, amongst others) before that boarding pass is issued.

Good point!
Although initially you could book your ticket first, then choose to do the ETIAS inbetween booking and taking the trip; example if in autumn you book for early summer 2027. Noted that in summer 27 the ETIAS probably won't be compulsory of course.

 

[Mike395]

Good point!
Although initially you could book your ticket first, then choose to do the ETIAS inbetween booking and taking the trip; example if in autumn you book for early summer 2027. Noted that in summer 27 the ETIAS probably won't be compulsory of course.

Yes, but you don't check in for your flight at the time of booking...

 

[RT4038]

You won't be able to get that far; you need a boarding pass to clear security, and the ETIAS will be checked (like the Canadian/USA equivalents, amongst others) before that boarding pass is issued.

Quite. About 20 years ago I booked to go to Perth, Western Australia via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysian Airlines. Owing to a misunderstanding, I thought I had an Australian Travel Authorisation when I hadn't. Oops! This was electronically picked up when I checked in at Heathrow and I was refused travel. Fortunately Malaysian Airlines have a procedure to deal with this, and for a suitably large, but not too large, sum applied for me there and then. The Authorisation came through from Canberra (by then in the middle of the night there) within about 30 minutes and I was good to go, a bit poorer but wiser. Luckily I checked in two hours before.......

 

[Howardh]

Reading the thread on the Euros and train travel, a thought had occured that if a team with large support, Spanish/Danes/Dutch etc, play in Dublin first, then travel to the UK for the next game, then thousands will enter the UK skipping our version of the EES (ETA?) as they only need ID cards to enter Ireland, and from there to GB almost nothing by ferry as we're in the CTA, maybe their ID card for the plane?

One rule for us, one for them it seems!

 

[popeter45]

Reading the thread on the Euros and train travel, a thought had occured that if a team with large support, Spanish/Danes/Dutch etc, play in Dublin first, then travel to the UK for the next game, then thousands will enter the UK skipping our version of the EES (ETA?) as they only need ID cards to enter Ireland, and from there to GB almost nothing by ferry as we're in the CTA, maybe their ID card for the plane?

One rule for us, one for them it seems!

EU citizens still need a ETA to visit northern Ireland

ETA for Northern Ireland | Travel Information

Learn about Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) requirements for Northern Ireland, including eligibility, costs and how to apply.

discovernorthernireland.com

its not a hard boarder but still travelling to NI from ROI without a ETA/Exemption counts as illegal entry too the UK

 

[Howardh]

EU citizens still need a ETA to visit northern Ireland

ETA for Northern Ireland | Travel Information

Learn about Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) requirements for Northern Ireland, including eligibility, costs and how to apply.

discovernorthernireland.com

its not a hard boarder but still travelling to NI from ROI without a ETA/Exemption counts as illegal entry too the UK

Who will check them? There are no border guards, no hard border, the only thing is if you are caught in a criminal act, or maybe a traffic offence. I assume though status is checked when booking in a hotel?

 

[zero]

Who will check them? There are no border guards, no hard border, the only thing is if you are caught in a criminal act, or maybe a traffic offence. I assume though status is checked when booking in a hotel?

if a team with large support, Spanish/Danes/Dutch etc, play in Dublin first, then travel to the UK for the next game

If such a scenario were to occur, the UKBF +/- local police forces could choose to send officers to do checks at ROI/NI road borders as well as ferry ports (yes even on GB to NI ferries, where I was once racially profiled for a check) and to meet flights arriving in GB from Ireland.

Hotels don't have access to the ETA system, but they are supposed to record the number of an ID document for all people who would not be British subjects under the BNA1948.