New Europe entry rules from November

BTN News
Tuesday, 07 May 2024

From November this year, new rules will impact visitors entering and leaving EU countries, with a new system tracking them using fingerprints and face scans.


It's hoped the system will reduce border security queues.

The new scheme - the Entry/Exit System (EES) - is an automated IT system that will register any non-EU nationals visiting European Union member states. 
Visitors will go through the system each time they cross an EU external border (so, when entering and when leaving each EU country). 

According to the European Commission (EC) web site, EES will register each individual’s name, travel document and biometric data – so travellers will have to provide fingerprint scans and cameras will take a photo of each face. EES will document the date and place of each entry and exit.

The current process is “time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow a systematic detection of travellers who have exceeded the maximum duration of their authorised stay (over-stayers)”, the EC web site says.

The system will apply at “25 of the 27 EU member states, as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, members of the bloc’s Schengen free-travel zone”.

In the UK, new EES gates will be installed for Eurostar train and ferry port crossings.

New Europe entry rules from November

BTN News
Tuesday, 07 May 2024

From November this year, new rules will impact visitors entering and leaving EU countries, with a new system tracking them using fingerprints and face scans.


It's hoped the system will reduce border security queues.

The new scheme - the Entry/Exit System (EES) - is an automated IT system that will register any non-EU nationals visiting European Union member states. 
Visitors will go through the system each time they cross an EU external border (so, when entering and when leaving each EU country). 

According to the European Commission (EC) web site, EES will register each individual’s name, travel document and biometric data – so travellers will have to provide fingerprint scans and cameras will take a photo of each face. EES will document the date and place of each entry and exit.

The current process is “time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow a systematic detection of travellers who have exceeded the maximum duration of their authorised stay (over-stayers)”, the EC web site says.

The system will apply at “25 of the 27 EU member states, as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, members of the bloc’s Schengen free-travel zone”.

In the UK, new EES gates will be installed for Eurostar train and ferry port crossings.