New border control systems: EES was first to launch

Two new border control systems apply to non-EU citizens visiting the Schengen area.

The first to be deployed was be the European Entry-Exit System (EES), which started from October 12, 2025.

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) is scheduled to follow. This will be an online application for permission to enter the Schengen area with a fee to be paid.

Note: Neither change applies to non-EU citizens who live in France or other Schengen states but under-18s who do not have a carte de séjour need a DCEM to prove they are resident and therefore exempt.

What is EES?

The Entry-Exit System (EES) is an electronic data collection system that applies to non-EU nationals visiting the Schengen area for short stays. It includes:

1: Those who hold a short-stay visa (required by some nationalities)

2: Those who are visa-exempt for up to 90 days in any 180-day period

The system is deployed on both entry and exit to/from the area. Any overstaying of the 90/180 days is automatically flagged and recorded, as is any previously refused entry.

EES collects data including name, passport details, fingerprints and a photo (the last two are taken on first entry to the EU since the scheme began) as well as date and place of entry and exit. Photos/prints are for the time being not always collected, especially at busy times, as tolerance has been extended over this due to issues with EES equipment.

Once a person is in the system, their details will be kept for three years after their last exit from the area, enabling faster future visits. Passport stamps are now no longer needed as EES has replaced them.

To ease passenger flows, larger airports and Eurostar and Eurotunnel terminals offer pre-registration kiosks intended to allow travellers to enter some data – including answering short questions about their travel plans (if this feature is turned on by border guards) – and have a photo and prints taken before they pass to an official’s desk for a final check that they are the person on the passport.

As of late 2026, however, these were still reportedly not functioning reliably, meaning they are not always in use. 

Britons, Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and many other nationals who are affected by EES should be able to avoid having to pass in front of a border guard's desk where PARAFE passport e-gates exist, as these have been adapted to work in conjunction with EES and to communicate with pre-registration kiosks where relevant. You need to be aged at least 12 for entry and 18 for exit to use these gates.  

Some ferry ports also have kiosks while others are intended to have helpers with tablet computers to input people’s data.

The same process is meant to be carried out where French checks are completed on UK soil, including outbound to France from Dover and London St Pancras, and on boarding LeShuttle for France.

The French authorities say that the equipment at borders, including PARAFEs where these exist, has also been updated so residents with long-stay visas and/or cartes de séjour, who are therefore exempt from EES, can move through swiftly by using these if they are from countries whose nationals may use them (see above). 

People with a French visa or carte de séjour should, however, continue to use non-EU lanes for their paperwork to be checked on arrival at travel hubs, unless directed otherwise.

The EU has produced an app called Travel to Europe, which in due course should allow users to submit information in advance, however in France it is still undergoing trials and is not yet ready to use here.