Many travellers are asking: what new red tape is the EU imposing this year for British travellers?

The European Union has long promised that its transformational “entry-exit system” (EES) is shortly to start. After that, the next step in tighter border controls is due to be “Etias”: the Electronic Travel Information and Authorisation System.

But after a number of conflicting announcements by Brussels about the European plans, there is understandable confusion about what exactly is planned, and when. These are the answers you need.

What is the EES?

“An automated IT system for registering non-EU nationals who are travelling to the EU for a short stay,” says the European Commission.

Many countries are digitising their borders. Instead of relying on “wet-stamping” passports and form-filling on paper, they create a central database which interacts with frontier posts – whether at airports, seaports, railway stations or road crossings. Europe is doing this on a grand scale, with the entire Schengen Area. That means all the European Union nations except Cyprus and Ireland, as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

The entry-exit system aims to capture personal data from all “third-country nationals” when they either enter or leave at an external Schengen border – such as flying from Scotland to Spain, taking the Channel Tunnel from England to France or crossing by road from Greece to Turkey.

This system, says the European Union, “will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings, and does not allow a systematic detection of over-stayers”.

The Commission calls the EES: “The most modern digital border management system in the world.” It is certainly one of the world’s more delayed launches of a multinational IT project.

From the traveller’s point of view, how will the entry-exit system work?

Initially the traveller will simply present themselves and their passport at the Schengen Area frontier. On first entry with that passport, their personal details, facial biometric and fingerprints will be taken and transmitted to the central database.

When leaving the Schengen Area, the departure will be recorded, though only one biometric – almost certainly the face – will be used. This will be repeated for each entry and exit for the life of the passport.

Will EES also be used at internal frontiers within the Schengen Area?

No.

When will it start?

No one knows, or at least they are not saying. The whole project has been characterised by missed deadlines. The latest, and most embarrassing, was in 2024.

In August, the European Union vowed that the EES would go ahead on 10 November 2024. It would be a “big bang” launch, at all frontiers from the Arctic crossing from Russia to Norway to the ferry port at Tarifa in Spain – the southernmost point in continental Europe, where passengers arrive from Morocco.

But exactly a month before EES was due to be launched, the EU quietly revealed it has been postponed indefinitely by the European Commission (the union’s “civil service”).

More information was promised “in the coming weeks”. But nothing has happened so far, and one well-placed source told The Independent: “It will almost certainly be well into 2025 before there is any chance of it having a significant effect on British travellers.”

Any implementation in the months from Easter to September will coincide with high levels of border crossings. It looks as though the whole project will be postponed until autumn 2025 at the very earliest.

How far in advance will we know when something might happen?

Again, no one knows. To add to the confusion, a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 10 October revealed a plan “to roll out the EES in a phased manner” in order “to ensure a smooth transition”.

In other words, the “big bang” plan has been dropped. It could be that one or more medium-sized airports could run biometric checks and take passengers’ passport data, in order to assess how smoothly the operation runs. But it could only be a “shadow” EES, with passport stamping continuing.

Sounds complicated. What do I need to do differently?

Nothing. There will be plenty of warning ahead of any changes that affect British passport holders. Meanwhile anyone with the good fortune to hold an Irish or other EU passport can relax completely. Nothing will change. Then, as now, all the frontier official is permitted to do is to check that the passport or ID card is valid and that it belongs to the bearer.

When EES does start, how much extra time will it add at airports?

Some member states have said the need to fingerprint and photograph travellers could quadruple the time taken for each non-Schengen arriving passengers. The former chief executive of easyJet, Johan Lundgren, said passengers could be held on planes at airports if queues in arrivals halls build up. But it seems likely that the fingerprint biometric could be dropped entirely. The Commission now says the plan is now to “scan the fingerprints or take a photo of those crossing the border for the first time”.

The key word in that phrase is or rather than and. Previously the plan was to demand both fingerprints and facial biometrics from every traveller.

As experience with US Customs and Border Protection shows, facial recognition software is now so advanced that fingerprints are no longer routinely taken. The immigration process is generally much smoother than before.

So, when EES finally starts up, those expensive machines that airports, railway stations and ferry terminals have ordered at huge expense may turn out to be over-specified.

What about Etias?

The Electronic Travel Information and Authorisation System is the next step in tightening frontier controls. It is an online permit for third-country nationals who do not require visas. It is similar to the US Esta scheme, but cheaper at €7 (£6) and valid for longer: three years. While those under 18 or over 70 will still need to apply for and hold an Etias, it will be free.

Crucially, though, in order to work, Etias requires EES to be fully operational. Once the entry-exit system has been running for six months, Etias is due to be introduced. But initially a six-month grace period will be granted – so it will not be mandatory for prospective UK visitors to apply online for permission to enter the Schengen Area for at least a year after the complete introduction of EES. The prospect of that happening before 2027 looks remote.

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