Schengen queues rise

Europe’s new Entry/Exit System is now fully live, and some travellers are already facing longer lines at Schengen border checks. (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) The Entry/Exit System, or EES, replaces passport stamps with a digital record for non-European Union travellers on short stays. It records a traveller’s name, travel document details, fingerprints, facial image, and the date and place of entry or exit. (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) The system began a phased rollout on October 12, 2025, and reached full implementation across participating countries on April 10, 2026. The European Commission said more than 45 million border crossings were registered during the rollout period. (travel-europe.europa.eu, home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) That rollout changed what happens at the booth. First-time travellers covered by EES can be asked to provide fingerprints and a facial image, which adds steps that did not exist under manual passport stamping. (travel-europe.europa.eu, home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) The queue story is separate from Europe’s other border change, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, or ETIAS. ETIAS is not operating yet, and the European Union says travellers do not need to apply now. (travel-europe.europa.eu, home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) ETIAS is a pre-trip travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors to 30 European countries, linked to a passport and valid for up to three years or until that passport expires. The official ETIAS site says it will start in the last quarter of 2026, with the exact launch date to be announced several months in advance. (travel-europe.europa.eu, travel-europe.europa.eu) The European Commission describes EES and ETIAS as the two pillars of its “Smart Borders” plan for monitoring short-stay travellers from outside the bloc. In practice, that means one system logs border crossings at the airport or land border, while the other will screen many travellers before they board. (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu, travel-europe.europa.eu) European officials have framed EES as a way to automate border checks and detect overstays more reliably than passport stamps. For travellers arriving this spring, the immediate effect is simpler to describe: the old stamp is gone, the new biometric check is here, and ETIAS is still months away. (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu, travel-europe.europa.eu)