EES: Delay for British and American residents to use French passport e-gates

Britons and Americans living in France are currently unable to use the Parafe passport e-gates at large airports and other border points in France due to technical difficulties.

This may not now be resolved until the summer, say experts.

It has been hoped this issue would be resolved to avoid non-EU nationals who live in France getting caught up in long ‘non-EU’ passport queues as use of the EU’s new EES digital borders system ramps up.

It comes as ‘pre-registration devices’ installed at many of the same larger border points (airports, ports, international stations…) have also been out of action recently causing longer waiting in the non-EU queues as all EES-related procedures are having to be completed at the border guards’ desk. 

At airports, this term refers to ‘kiosks’ where eligible people (non-EU/non-EES/non-Swiss citizens visiting the Schengen area) may input passport data, a fingerprint scan and a facial image.

This is causing concern for coming months, with use of EES scheduled to ramp up to include all eligible travellers by the end of next month. 

How could the use of the Parafes help?

Use of Parafes used to be permitted by France to various non-EU nationals, including Britons and Americans, prior to the start of EES in October 2025. 

The e-gates could allow them in some cases to bypass traditional non-EU passport lanes although visitors (but not residents) were supposed to still look out for an official to obtain a passport stamp. EES is set to eventually remove the use of stamps.

It has been planned that the Parafes would be adjusted so they can be used in conjunction with EES, so a visitor who has passed via a pre-registration device can then go through a Parafe, with no need to see a border guard. 

It was thought this might function firstly for ‘subsequent’ entries/exits from Schengen after a person has been registered, but that it would later become functional even for first entries/exits.

However, the start of EES meant that for the time-being no non-EU citizens could use the Parafes, including residents.

It was planned that in due course IT and regulatory changes would allow Parafes to be adjusted to recognise the status of non-EU residents, allowing them to use the e-gates and not wait in traditional non-EU queues (though no further details were given as to how this would work).

More delays for now

French airports body UAF reported in December that although some other EU countries had Parafes ”working with EES already”, this was not yet the case in France, as IT work was still underway and had proved more difficult than expected. 

UAF also told us, before Christmas, that there were technical issues with the kiosks, which were hoped to be resolved with updates in the next weeks.

An expert said at the time: “Residents will have to be patient, as Parafe updates are also coming at the start of the year, which should resolve the problem, and an update to the regulations [on use of these gates] is also expected in the first quarter of the year.”

However this week he told us: “We hear that the kiosks and Parafes will be operational by the end of March, with certain developments for the Parafes still remaining to be carried out and which could be put in place before the summer for 100% compatibility with EES and particular situations such as residents.”

Experiences at Nice airport

Two members of the Connexion team recently passed through Nice airport, and noted issues with the Parafe gates. 

One, a UK resident who is British, said that on flying into the airport in early January, Parafe gates were open to EU nationals but Britons were not permitted to use them, including people with residency cards who were told to join the non-EU queue where people's biometric data was being taken for EES.

"The border guard tried to take mine [fingerprint scan and facial image] as well until I explained I had already given it previously, at which point I had to look at a camera again, and was passed with just a passport stamp. 

"On exiting France I had to give biometric data again. I explained this was the third time I had been asked for it but the border guard shrugged and said 'the computer wants it'. So I gave it and was registered again."

A team member who is British and French noted the Parafes and EES kiosks all out of action on travelling to the UK in December. 

On returning on January 2, border guards were trying to operate a single Parafe for people with French passports only, while everyone else took ordinary passport lanes, but there were malfunctions, causing a queue build-up, so another border booth was opened up.