EU EES Goes Live

The European Union’s new Entry/Exit System is now fully running at all Schengen external borders, ending passport stamps for many short-stay non-European Union travellers. (europa.eu) The system became fully operational on April 10, 2026, after a 180-day rollout that began when the Entry/Exit System started operating on October 12, 2025. The European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale Information Technology Systems, known as eu-LISA, said all Schengen countries had deployed it by that date. (eulisa.europa.eu) The Entry/Exit System records a traveller’s name, travel document details, fingerprints, facial image, and the date and place of entry and exit. The European Commission said it applies to non-European Union nationals entering for short stays and also records refusals of entry. (europa.eu) The Schengen area is the passport-free travel zone used by 29 countries in this system, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Council of the European Union said the system also covers Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway for non-European Union travellers crossing external borders. (consilium.europa.eu) The old system relied on ink stamps in passports to show when someone entered or left. The new database lets border authorities check automatically whether a visitor has exceeded the usual 90 days in any 180-day period for short stays in the Schengen area. (consilium.europa.eu) The European Commission said the Entry/Exit System is designed to help detect overstays and reduce identity fraud at the border. The Council said it is also meant to make checks at the European Union’s external borders more efficient once the system is fully in place. (europa.eu) (consilium.europa.eu) The rollout was gradual because countries were allowed to start at selected border crossings and with fewer functions before moving to full use. The Council approved that phased approach in July 2025, and the Commission said more than 45 million border crossings were registered during the early months of operation. (consilium.europa.eu) (europa.eu) For travellers, the practical change is that a first crossing may now include biometric enrollment instead of a passport stamp, and later crossings use the digital record already on file. The European External Action Service said the system is fully operational at all external border crossing points in countries using it. (eeas.europa.eu) The shift closes a border-control project the European Union wrote into law in 2017 and spent years preparing to launch. As of April 2026, the stamp in the passport is no longer the main record; the database is. (europa.eu)