Biometric Identification of British passport holders (EES) and ETIAS Visa-Waiver Scheme for entering the Schengen Area 2025 - 2027

Update 25 May 2025 The date of November 10th 2024 for the launch of the new EU border system, the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), is “no longer on the table”, the EU s Commissioner Ylva Johansson announced.
“I hope that we can start as soon as possible, but there is no new timeline so far. This also depends on the legal assessment that we will do and that we are working on right now,” she added.

For the most recent phased-in  timeline for  both EES and ETIAS see here: https://www.connexionfrance.com/practical/etias-travel-permit-for-eu-april-2027-earliest-date-for-enforcement/712710

The UK and EU recently announced the possibility for British citizens to use e-gates alongside EU citizens when travelling to the EU/Schengen area (i.e. all European Union countries plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein but not Ireland and Turkish Cyprus). However it is important to understand that this is a passport control queuing issue and in no way means Britons can enter the area without being subject to the EES/ETIAS arrangements detailed below.  There is no automatic freedom of movement in or out of the UK for tourists

When EES is launched tourists aged 12 and over with British passports will no longer have their passports stamped on arrival and departure from the Schengen area as a means of checking whether they have exceeded their 90 out of 180 day stay allowance. Instead all travellers will be required to link biometric photo and fingerprint data to their specific passport number and personal details so the Entry and Exit System (EES) can carry out overstay checks electronically.

Your biometric data will be gathered just once on your first entry into the Schengen area from late 2024 and will remain valid for 3 years from the *last trip* taken to the Schengen Area and for the lifetime of the passport so travellers may only need to provide biometric data once a decade if using a newly-issued passport and they travel to the Schengen Area at least once every 3 years.

If your British passport is nearing its expiry date, consider renewing it early to avoid having to undergo biometric data registration all over again when a new passport is issued.  British citizens can choose to renew *at any time* during the 10 year validity.  Bear in mind if you lose or renew your passport you will need to undergo biometric registration again to travel to Schengen area as your data is linked to a specific passport number

Data collection kiosks able to process 60 cars simultaneously are now installed at the Calais Eurotunnel terminal.  

The ETIAS visa-waiver scheme, similar to the UK's ETA travel authorisation scheme (see below for details), is expected to be introduced 6 -12 months after the EES system comes into operation
It is expected that EES will have a soft start  whereby immigration authorities at ports at very busy times will be permitted to allow people to travel whose biometrics have not yet been registered. This could continue for 6 months to a year but don't expect to be allowed through repeatedly over the transition and grace period without registering biometrics

​UK residents make just under 10 million visits to France each year it is reported so that is an awful lot of time-consuming biometric registration to organise and travellers should expect delays. 
If that wasn't bad enough travellers using the M20 for Dover and Folkestone Eurotunnel can expect more frequent delays in both directions owing to the use of Operation Brock, the motorway contraflow system in place to regulate heavy freight and car traffic especially when at a standstill. This includes closure of the motorway at night for the concrete blocks to be placed.  Motorists can and should automatically check the status of Operation Brock before setting out to help accurately estimate their travel and port check-in times. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/travel-updates/operation-brock.  
​See also the Highways Agency latest travel updates here https://www.trafficengland.com/ as well as live traffic alerts from Google Maps and Waze

On the bright side once you are in the system, passing through immigration controls should be much quicker than the current passport stamping procedures and officials would only likely check either your facial scan or your fingerprints

In order to reduce processing times Frontex is developing the Travel to Europe app which will allow for the pre-registration of travel documents and facial biometric data before arriving at a border crossing point however such ground-breaking technology will require considerable development and testing and must avoid privacy issues. The app is not yet available to download

If your are the spouse of an EU citizen there are a whole set of different rules that apply to you ​https://www.connexionfrance.com/practical/will-ees-affect-travel-rules-for-spouses-of-french-citizens/712323

What  changes to travel in 2025-2027 will affect UK and other non-Schengen passport holders?
​

​​Like many other developed countries, the UK has rolled out its own digital ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) system to pre-screen visitors to the UK travelling on passports that do NOT require them to obtain a visa (visitors such as EU citizens).  Essentially, although these some 80 nationalities are not required to go through the exhaustive UK visa process, immigration authorities want to identify prior to their departure who people are, the purpose of their visit and to obtain some personal background information in order to assess whether they pose a terrorist or criminal threat and should be denied entry. All entries into and exits from the UK will be digitally logged

A word of warning: British passport holders who also have citizenship of an EU/Schengen country should ensure they keep both passports up to date and travel with both at all times.  A UK-French dual national​ living in the UK for example who cannot present a British passport to UK border authorities is NOT entitled to apply for an ETA travel authorisation with their EU passport and will be refused entry.  The only acceptable document to present other than a UK passport would be a Certificate of Entitlement to prove right of abode in the UK and costing £589! ​https://www.gov.uk/right-of-abode/apply-for-a-certificate-of-entitlement

Like its counterparts, America's ESTA and British ETA systems, ETIAS is designed to beef up European security through online pre-screening while simplifying and modernising border controls by allowing travellers from 61 visa-waiver countries to enter the Schengen area without the need to stamp each passport in and out as a means of ensuring visitors do not exceed their 90 out of 180 days maximum stay allowance. Airlines and other carriers will be required to check passengers are in possession of ETIAS authorisation before allowing them to board
 
Eligible visitors to Schengen countries will need to submit an online application which will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and automated approval should be granted also within minutes. ETIAS authorisation is valid for 3 years for an unlimited number of trips and the cost will be 7 euros per person aged 18 to 70.  Minors and people aged over 70 need not pay but must still complete the form
 
The online application will gather personal contact information, identity, birth, passport, health, education, purpose of visit and itinerary information as well as details of criminal convictions over the last 10 years and credit/debit cards for the payment of the fee.
 
Using artificial intelligence the system identifies serious criminal activity and threats in the form of terrorism, sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, drug trafficking, murder or rape by checking and assessing each application against international databases run by EUROPOL, EURODAC (Asylum database), INTERPOL stolen and lost travel documents, the Schengen Information System (SIS), Visa Information System (VIS) and the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) which exchanges criminal record information on non-EU citizens.
 
In some cases a manual review of an application may be required on a case by case basis if a flag is raised with a database hit or because information is improperly entered. Convictions for minor offences would not be a cause for refusal but there is an appeals process for refused applications
 
ETIAS's digital information gathering and authorisation system is complemented by the EES system (Entry and Exit system) which is the physical recording of visitor movements over Schengen Area external borders using biometric data and does away with passport stamping to identify overstayers and irregular travel documents
 
The biometric data visitors will need to submit are facial and fingerprint information. Visitors to the EU will not need to visit a consulate or embassy but final details of how travellers will actually register their biometric data have not yet been officially released by the UK or the EU. Facial and fingerprint data will need to be physically registered at the time of the first trip using an ETIAS  authorisation but once in the system with each further border crossing it should be enough to self-scan the authorisation at an automated kiosk. Your data will be retained for the 3 years following your last visit to the Schengen Area 
 
Concerns, however, are being raised at the port of Dover where, unlike airports, they are faced with the huge challenge of allowing car ferry passengers to step outside of their vehicles to be fingerprinted and go through facial recognition procedures on their first ETIAS crossing owing to the danger from moving vehicles. There is also the issue of a lack of space to create suitable port facilities for this data processing.  Even self-scanning points will prove problematic if they are to avoid causing the exact same delays as are caused by the current practice of manually stamping each individual passport
 
Watch this space!