Say Goodbye to Passport Stamps in Europe: New Entry/Exit System Begins Quickly

The European Union’s govt arm, the European Fee, has formally introduced the beginning date of its upcoming Entry/Exit System (EES), which can change the best way worldwide passports are processed for guests to the EU’s member states. 

The European Commissioner for Dwelling Affairs, Ylva Johansson, confirmed in a speech that the EU intends to implement the brand new system on November 10, 2024.

“After intense dialogues with Member States, with you, with the completely different stakeholders, I’ve determined that the Entry/Exit System will enter into operations on the tenth of November,” mentioned Johansson, according to Schengen.News. “Completely different steps are legally required earlier than the Fee might take the formal choice, however I’m proud to disclose in the present day that the tenth of November is the goal day.”

What’s Europe’s new Entry/Exit System (EES)?

Europe’s new Entry/Exit System is meant to replace passport stamping by electronically registering the arrival and departure of worldwide guests to and from most EU member states. 

Upon arrival in Europe, passport management officers will scan your face, file a digital scan of your fingerprints—these scans will be mandatory—and not stamp your passport. 

When guests go away Europe, they will scan face and fingers as soon as once more to register their departure. 

Guests will have the ability to velocity their first arrival at a European border by pre-registering utilizing a cell app (not but obtainable) or the automated kiosks (which the EU calls “self-service systems”) put in at main border entry ports resembling airports. 

When you’re registered with EES, the subsequent time you cross an exterior European border, you will solely must scan your face and fingers for reentry. 

What is the distinction between EES and ETIAS?

The EES is distinct from Europe’s upcoming European Travel Information and Authorization System, or ETIAS.

One system (ETIAS) will validate approval to journey; the opposite (EES) is for registering an individual’s arrival as soon as journey begins and, later, departure as soon as the go to is over. 

Whereas EES features as a monitoring system for individuals as soon as they arrive in Europe, ETIAS will perform as a pre-authorization to journey to Europe to start with, and would require extra private data from vacationers, together with occupation and a few journey historical past.

EES will likely be used to register guests each time they enter or go away Europe. ETIAS, however, have to be utilized for less than as soon as each 3 years earlier than journey begins and isn’t slated to enter into power till 2025 on the soonest. 

Who’s required to make use of Europe’s new Entry/Exit System (EES)?

Each particular person crossing an exterior European border who just isn’t additionally an EU nationwide—which by definition contains each vacationer staying for a most of 90 days in any 180-day interval—will likely be required to register with the brand new EES. In different phrases, just about everybody who goes to Europe on trip. 

Guests who fall exterior the class of vacationer, resembling individuals who maintain residence permits or long-stay visas, will likely be exempt from the EES. 

Vacationers who carry biometric passports (all U.S. passports issued since 2007 are biometric) may also velocity by means of the automated “self-service system” kiosks (a prototype is pictured above) as soon as these vacationers’ particulars have been registered within the database for the primary time.   

The EES will likely be used on the border of 29 EU nations (listed here). Cyprus and Eire are members of the European Union, however in these nations passports will nonetheless be stamped manually.

Authorities say the EES will fall below Europe’s Basic Information Safety Regulation (GDPR) that guarantees private information will solely be used for immigration and safety functions. 

“Safeguards are in place to make sure the rights of vacationers as regards the safety of their personal lives and private information,” the EU claims. “Their personal data will solely be retained within the EES for so long as mandatory and for the aim(s) for which it was collected.”

The EU has not introduced that it expects crowds at border entry factors to grow to be backed up in late 2024, after the EES comes on-line. Nonetheless, Frommer’s recommends that vacationers permit for a bit of additional time when coming into Europe after November 10. Accumulating photographs and fingerprints in a brand new system for each incoming vacationer is sure to generate some operational challenges at first. As soon as extra guests are registered and kinks are labored out, the automated “self-service system” kiosks will have the ability to course of individuals at sooner charges. 

The US started requiring non-Individuals between the ages of 14 and 79 to submit fingerprint scans and facial pictures nearly 20 years ago.