New EU EES checks cause travel delays for UK travellers

The EU’s new digital entry and exit system EES has created long queues, repeated fingerprinting and visa-record errors for British travellers since it moved to full operation in April after an autumn launch. Passengers and airlines reported delays of up to three hours and missed connections, but Brussels refused calls from airports and airlines to suspend the scheme over the summer; border police can temporarily relax checks under an opt-out that expires next month. EES requires non-EU citizens to be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival and departure to track the 90 days allowed in any rolling 180-day period. Retired professor Martin Farrall says Dutch border police enrolled him at Hoek van Holland but did not stamp his passport, French officers returned his passport without an exit stamp on 30 June, he reported the error to France’s Directorate General for Foreign Nationals on 13 July, and the EES tally only corrected between 7 and 17 August. Nadia from Greater Manchester described a smooth June trip to Tenerife but a chaotic July experience at Frankfurt with very long queues, limited information and repeated fingerprinting. The errors leave travellers at risk of being marked as overstayers and underline continuing teething problems as the system expands across Schengen entry points.