Entry/Exit System: key points to note about the new rules

The EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) begins phasing in at Schengen borders on October 12, 2025, replacing passport stamping with a digital record of travellers’ movements. 

Non-EU visitors should expect new checks — and possibly longer queues — while residents with valid permits remain exempt.

• If you are non EU/non-EEA/non-Swiss national visiting from October 12, 2025 or leaving Schengen to go to a non-Schengen state, plan for possibly longer queues and expect to have to provide passport information and answers to the questions for an EES database entry to be created. You may be asked to have your biometrics taken.
• If you are a non-EU etc national who lives in France or another Schengen state, showing your residency card or passport with visa will exempt you. However, families with under-18s who do not have their own cards, are being urged to obtain a Document de circulation pour étranger mineur (Dcem)
• France must provide the EU details of its phased rollout by September 24. Check our website for further information, or see here. 
• Contrary to media claims, passport stamping will not stop on October 12, but will continue through phasing-in. Then the EES alone will be used to monitor trips with the 90/180 days rule.
• Several readers have asked which passport queues to use with EES. Police confirm that close family members of EU citizens can continue to use EU lanes with them. If they have a French or EU residency card or long-stay visa they can show this to be exempt; if not they will be registered in EES under ‘family member’ rules meaning they will not be subject to an automatic 90/180 days stay calculator. Close family of French people will be seen as ordinary visitors unless the visitors are EU residents.
• From October 2026 the EU is expected to operate Etias, an online application for pre-approval to visit the Schengen area, complimentary to EES. 
• Dual UK/other nationality citizens are exempt from ETA, but take care if you have an expired UK passport, as a valid passport is required to prove exemption (or a costly ‘certificate of entitlement’ to live in the UK). The Home Office states that rules are not being strictly enforced so such nationals should still be able to visit and leave with their other passport, until full enforcement in 2026.