The EU's Biometric Entry/Exit System Is Set to Launch in 2025: Who Will Need It

Europe's long-awaited digital border system is finally on course to begin operating in 2025. On 4 December 2024, the European Commission proposed a progressive start for the Entry/Exit System (EES), the bloc's new automated registration scheme for non-EU travellers, while the EU's official EES website confirmed that the system will launch next year, though without an exact date.

That timeline comes nearly nine years after the EES was first proposed. Once the plan is approved and a start date is set, member states will have six months to deploy it. For the millions of non-EU visitors who cross Europe's external borders each year, the change will reshape what happens on arrival.

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What the EES is and who must use it

The EES is an automated registration system for non-EU travellers who do not need a visa. Instead of having a passport stamped by hand, travellers will scan their passport or travel document at a self-service kiosk each time they cross an EU external border. The system records a person's name, biometric data, namely facial scans and fingerprints taken every three years and valid for multiple trips in that period, along with the date and place of every entry and exit.

It does not apply to EU citizens or residents, nor to holders of long-stay visas. Instead it covers non-EU nationals, including UK travellers, visiting for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Geographically, the EES will operate in every EU member state except Cyprus and Ireland, plus four non-EU Schengen countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The aim is to bolster border security and make it easier to identify people who overstay.

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Why it kept being delayed

Getting to this point has been anything but smooth. Former home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson said in August that the system would launch before her tenure ended in November, but the planned 10 November start was pushed back yet again, the fourth delay, after France, Germany and the Netherlands said they were not ready.

Those three countries alone welcome more than 100 million tourists a year, and they cited a lack of practical testing. Earlier postponements had been blamed on IT problems and the work of installing automated barriers, with some airports even reinforcing their floors to bear the weight of the heavy scanning equipment.

How the phased rollout will work

Rather than switching everything on at once, the EES will arrive in stages. The goal is for the system to be working at 10% of border crossings in every member state on day one. During this soft launch, passports will still be stamped by hand and the crossing recorded electronically at the same time, giving authorities a fallback while the technology beds in.

Six months after the start, the EES is expected to be fully operational, with manual stamping phased out. A further six months later, travellers will also need to obtain ETIAS, the visa-waiver scheme for visitors aged 16 to 70 that will cost around €7 and last three years. To see how the two systems connect and what each one asks of you, our ETIAS and EES overview lays out the sequence.