French border checks: what is changing over the next few months?

Reader Question: I thought I read an article that said changes were coming to EES in September, but now I cannot find it. I am sure that the final launch was in April? What is happening?

The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) launched on October 12, 2025, but in a phased way.

Rolled out progressively, it officially entered into full operation on April 10, 2026.

It is meant to track comings and goings of all non-EU/non-EEA/non-Swiss citizen visitors to the EU’s Schengen area. This does not include foreign people who live in the EU.

It involves creating an EU database entry for a given person on their first entry or exit across Schengen borders after the scheme went live, and subsequently the digital system tracks their future entries/exits.

Normally, creation of the database entry includes both passport information and a person’s biometric data (facial image and right-hand fingerprints).

However, the system has led to several issues for travellers entering the Schengen area, with reports of long queues and airlines asking for the scheme to be delayed.

Amid the reports, it can be difficult to keep track of the next steps of the scheme, and you are partially correct that some changes are upcoming.

Biometric exemptions to end

The European Commission has confirmed that border authorities can still temporarily suspend the collection of biometric data at certain border points to avoid long queues, although EES database entries containing at least a person’s passport data should still be created for people not yet in the system and subsequent entries/exits should still be tracked.

The rules allow the collection of biometric data to be suspended for up to six hours at a time. The stoppage is meant to be reported to the EU, along with the reason for it.

Such suspensions are permitted until July and can also now be extended into early September after the European Commission confirmed that the requirements were met for this. The commission also told The Connexion that there is nothing in the rules stopping a new six-hour period starting after the first one.

Due to ongoing technical problems with pre-registration equipment that was meant to help speed up queues, much use of such suspensions is being made in France, meaning that many people have not been required to give biometrics up to now. This is hoped to soon be resolved.

Following September however, there are no specific exemptions in place, other than in the case of technical breakdowns, where rules exist stating that data should be collected electronically on a local basis if possible, or failing that by hand.

All passengers entering or leaving the Schengen area and subject to the EES should therefore by then expect to have their biometric data taken for their database entry and one of their biometrics should be checked on subsequent occasions.

Passengers not subject to the EES may still be impacted by the changes, as they could be caught up in queues.

Having said this, France is once again permitting certain nationals such as Americans and Britons to use e-gates where they exist, potentially speeding up the passport process for some people.

There have been reports of some passport checkpoints being understaffed for dealing with the extra EES procedures, leading to hundreds missing flights.

ETIAS system set to launch soon

You may have also heard about another related scheme known as ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System).

This is an incoming visa-waiver programme for the EU. Similar to the UK’s ETA and US ESTA, it will impact travellers who benefit from visa-free tourist access to the EU.

ETIAS will be an online travel authorisation for these travellers that must be obtained in advance before entering the bloc.

Residency card holders living in a Schengen area country will remain exempt, but those in Ireland and Cyprus (non-Schengen but EU countries) will be subject to it under certain conditions.

Its rollout has been delayed a number of times due to its connection to the EES, which has seen several delays but had to come into force first as ETIAS is designed to build on it.

ETIAS should begin a progressive rollout from the third quarter of 2026 (roughly six months after the full implementation of the EES), according to the latest information from the EU.

After launch there will be a ‘transitional’ period for at least six months in which you ‘should’ apply for Etias but will be allowed to enter the Schengen area without.

It will be followed by a six (or more) month ‘grace’ period when the same applies for those entering Schengen for the first time since the end of the transition period.

More information can be found in our article here, however note that the EU is yet to provide a specific launch date for ETIAS.