EES Holiday Delays Explained: Why Border Queues May Rise in 2026

The EU's new digital border system, which requires fingerprints and a photo alongside a passport scan, became fully operational on 10 April 2026. The Entry/Exit System (EES) will eventually be active at every border crossing across the 29 participating countries, but early problems have led to warnings that delays could be worse during busy holiday periods.

EES is designed to track non-EU citizens — including those from the UK — entering and leaving the Schengen area, a zone of mostly EU countries that people can normally cross without internal border controls. It includes many popular destinations for UK travellers, such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, and will eventually replace the manual stamping of passports.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels

Why the system has delayed travellers

The gradual introduction of EES began on 12 October 2025, with the plan to phase it in over six months. However, not every crossing point was fully rolled out by the April deadline, and there have already been hours-long queues at pinch points. In one example, around 100 passengers were stranded in Milan when their easyJet flight to Manchester left without them after they faced queues of up to three hours. Travellers arriving at the popular ski destination of Geneva also reported long delays earlier in 2026.

Travel experts told the BBC that the system has been affected by IT issues, and that long queues can form where travellers struggle to use it. In response, the European Commission indicated that EES checks could be temporarily suspended at busy times until September to keep people moving.

What passengers have to do

The first time they use the new system, people from most non-EU countries must register their biometric information while their passport is scanned. Flight passengers register at their destination airport, but those crossing the English Channel by ferry from Dover, by Eurotunnel shuttle or by Eurostar complete the process as they leave the UK. At most of these points, travellers use special kiosks that scan the passport and take fingerprints and a photo; children under 12 do not have to give fingerprints, and staff should be on hand to help.

The registration is valid for three years, with details verified on each trip during that period. Operators have invested heavily to prepare: Dover reclaimed land from the sea to create an additional processing area about a mile from the ferry terminal, Eurostar installed dozens of kiosks at London St Pancras, and Eurotunnel set up more than a hundred kiosks on each side of the Channel. A mobile phone app has also been developed to let passengers complete part of the process in advance, although it was not yet widely used.

What about ETIAS?

EES is separate from the EU's planned visa-waiver scheme, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which builds on it. Citizens of non-EU countries who do not need a visa — including people from the UK — will be able to apply online for authorisation before they travel. ETIAS is not due to start until the end of 2026, with the final date not yet confirmed; it will cost €20 per application and be valid for three years, with under-18s and over-70s required to apply but exempt from the fee. For a plain-language summary of how the two systems connect, see our overview of EES and ETIAS.