Copenhagen EES Delays

Copenhagen Airport is still seeing passport-control lines of more than an hour, six months after Europe began rolling out its new Entry/Exit System. (thelocal.dk) The Entry/Exit System is the European Union’s new digital border log for most non-EU short-stay travelers. It started operating on October 12, 2025, and Schengen countries were told to phase it in until full implementation by April 10, 2026. (travel-europe.europa.eu, euneighbourseast.eu) At first entry, travelers covered by the system must hand over passport details, a facial image and fingerprints instead of just getting a stamp. The system applies to non-EU nationals entering Schengen for short stays, including many visa-free visitors from countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. (euneighbourseast.eu) That extra processing time has turned airport border desks into a bottleneck at several hubs. Travel reporting in April described queues of up to three hours in parts of Europe after the final stage of the rollout, with some passengers missing flights. (thepointsguy.com, euronews.com) Copenhagen has become one of the clearest examples because the delays have lasted well beyond launch week. Travelers told The Local on April 23 that waits at the Danish capital’s airport were still stretching past an hour, even after months for staff and passengers to adjust. (thelocal.dk) The system is meant to replace manual passport stamping with a central record of entries, exits and overstays across the Schengen area. European Union materials say the goal is tighter border checks and more accurate tracking of the 90-days-in-180 rule for short visits. (euneighbourseast.eu) A second layer of screening, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, is not in force yet. EU officials said ETIAS is now expected in the last quarter of 2026, after ministers backed a revised sequence that put Entry/Exit first. (travel-europe.europa.eu) When ETIAS does start, visa-exempt non-EU travelers will need to apply online before departure, pay a €20 fee and receive approval for short trips to 30 European countries. The European Commission has not yet published a specific launch date, and the rollout will be followed by transitional and grace periods lasting at least 12 months. (travel-europe.europa.eu, euneighbourseast.eu) For summer 2026 travelers, that means the paperwork step is still on hold, but the border-time step is already here. At Copenhagen, the old passport stamp is disappearing faster than the queue. (travel-europe.europa.eu, thelocal.dk)