any hotel they stay in will want ID and that will flag them as being in the UK
Many hotels have self-check in these days, so that's already a non-issue. Or they can rent private apartments that use lockboxes, again, no ID checked. There is certainly no systematic checking of ID when checking into accommodation in the UK.
You have to fill out Advance Passenger Information still, and the ferry companies are required to check that any non UK/Irish citizens have an ETA, same as airlines. If you do not have an ETA you will not be allowed to check in or board.
Not when travelling between GB and NI. Any attempt at requiring ID (to verify citizenship/ETA) on GB-NI ferries would result in a massive backlash from the unionist community.
With the EES, it's going to be a very rough summer for many airports. It's clear that part of the issue is how each country and border has different rules for it: some people are being directed to kiosks every time, others are only requiring the kiosk for the registration, while others don't have kiosks at all and everything is done at the desk. The EU really needs to sort this out, ideally with kiosks only being used for registration and then travellers who have already registered being allowed to process straight to e-gates.
People not doing stage 1 is why the queue is so big. If you do it at the machine the border officers don’t have to do it and therefore the process is quicker.
It's not that. The problem is that there isn't a single unified process, so there's a complete mess. Airports are doing a terrible job of communicating to passengers what they need to do, while individual countries have their own requirements. So, for instance, some countries are handling the "border control" at the kiosks and e-gates, while others are only doing the registration there while still requiring a visit to a manual desk.
In general, if you're already registered, then there should be no need to go near a kiosk, you should simply proceed straight to the e-gates. But some countries are using kiosks to perform some border control tasks, which is causing widespread confusion and significant delays. No-one really seems to know if someone is registered on the EES or not, and I've seen in two Polish airports that the full registration process seems to be carried out each time on entry/exit, rather than just a quick biometric scan. Then there's the additional problem that not all e-gates are the same. For instance, in Germany, German citizens can use their ID cards to access the e-gates, and even foreigners with German residence permits can do the same. But I can't use my Polish ID card at their gates, nor can I use Polish e-gates.
It's a confusing mess and it's causing a lot of the queues because no-one really seems to know what's going on. For instance, in Valencia last month, I saw that people could go straight through the e-gates without using the kiosks, even with a British passport. But many people were still using the kiosks even though were obvious tourists who were already registered on the EES, because this is the requirement elsewhere and the signage also requires it.
I'm in Bergamo in a couple of weeks - do I just skip straight to the eGate?!
Give it a try. There's no reason not to, you'll either be rejected or simply directed to the manual control.
Ha! Three times now I've done stage 1. The problem is the staff not taking any notice when you tell them you've already done it. Spain & Portugal.
The issue is that some airports still require it at every visit, and it's completely inconsistent as to what is actually required and what isn't. Some kiosks are handling border control, others are simply doing registration there, and it's just a complete mess.
In comparison, look at how Croatia is handling it on the land borders.
- First visit, you need to use a EES lane (usually most lanes are equipped with the fingerprint scanner / camera, but not all)
- You get out of the car, give your fingerprints and get a picture taken
- This creates the EES record
- You get your passport back and you get into your car
Then: every subsequent time you cross the border, the document you hand over at the booth is checked. If you have an EES record, then all that happens is that the computer automatically compares the picture on your EES record with the picture held on your electronic chip. If it matches, you're good to go. No need to give fingerprints again, no need for additional pictures, everything is seamless.
If you've already registered elsewhere, for example at a kiosk in Spain, then there's no need to do anything, they can see everything and you just hand over your passport.
The same goes for Croatian air borders: once you've been to a kiosk once to pre-register, there's no need to use them again, you just go straight to the manual control.
Again, the issue is that the implementation of the EES is so inconsistent. Some countries are collecting photos and fingerprints on every entry/exit, even when it's not required under the EES. Other countries with land borders aren't bothering with the biometric collection because it's simply not possible to do it, and there's really no reason whatsoever to systematically collect fingerprints/photos from every traveller on every occasion. I suspect that this is partially what is causing most of the chaos: unnecessary and repeated data collection from third country nationals.
