Greece Drops EES Biometrics

Greece has stopped requiring British passport holders to give fingerprints and facial scans when they enter the country under Europe’s new border system. (travelweekly.co.uk) The change took effect on April 10, 2026, according to statements circulated by Greek government channels and the Greek Embassy in London. Greece had previously told travellers it would use the European Union’s Entry/Exit System from October 12, 2025, with full rollout by April 9, 2026. (travelweekly.co.uk) (mfa.gr) The Entry/Exit System is the European Union’s digital border database for short-stay non-EU visitors. The European Commission says it records a traveller’s name, passport details, fingerprints, facial image, and the date and place of entry and exit across 29 participating countries. (ec.europa.eu) For British travellers, the old expectation was simple: on a first post-rollout trip into Schengen, they would be photographed and fingerprinted at the border. The UK government’s guidance says that biometric record would then be stored for three years. (gov.uk) (mfa.gr) Greece’s move leaves the rest of the Schengen rulebook in place for Britons. UK passport holders still face the 90-days-in-180 limit for short stays, and Greece is not saying that passport, visa, or overstay rules have changed. (gov.uk) (ec.europa.eu) Greek tourism officials framed the exemption as an airport-operations decision. Eleni Skarveli, the Greek National Tourism Organisation’s director in the UK, said it would deliver “a smoother and more efficient arrival experience” and reduce waiting times and congestion. (metro.co.uk) (travelweekly.co.uk) That matters because Britain is one of Greece’s biggest visitor markets. INSETE, the research arm of the Greek Tourism Confederation, said Germany and the United Kingdom led inbound travel to Greece in 2024, while Bank of Greece data showed total inbound travel traffic reached 37.98 million visitors in 2025. (news.gtp.gr) (euronews.com) The practical effect is that a British tourist landing in Athens, Corfu, Crete, or Rhodes should now expect a passport check and stamp in Greece, not the fingerprint-and-camera process used elsewhere under the Entry/Exit System. Other Schengen countries can still require the full biometric enrollment when the same traveller enters there. (independent.co.uk) (ec.europa.eu) So the summer border routine for Britons heading to Greece just got more predictable: bring a valid passport, expect the usual short-stay Schengen checks, and do not expect fingerprinting on arrival in Greece. (travelweekly.co.uk) (gov.uk)