Soon, most of your European passport stamps will be a relic of the past. Later this year, the 29 nations of the European Schengen Area will cease stamping your travel documents and instead switch to a new system the European Union argues will speed up border control and improve security.
“At every single airport, every single harbor, every single road into Europe, we will have digital border controls,” EU commissioner Ylva Johansson said in a speech on August 16, adding, “When that happens, it will be goodbye to passport stamping, hello to digital checks.”
[The new digital entry system] will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings, and does not allow a systematic detection of overstayers.
The new program is slated to roll out November 10 with the new automated Entry/Exit System (EES), which will register non-EU travelers digitally. Under EES protocol, and after the implementation of the new system, travelers’ faces and fingerprints will be scanned when they enter Europe for the first time. The software will then take the travelers’ biometric data, which will be used to cross-reference their passport information (including name, ID number, date of birth, and issue and expiration date) and verify their arrival and exit. Once that information is taken from travelers, only a facial scan will be required for future visits.
Confirming travelers’ identities and their comings and goings digitally removes the need to physically stamp passports. “EES will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings, and does not allow a systematic detection of overstayers,” the European Commission’s Department for Migration and Home Affairs said in a statement.
EES was originally supposed to launch in 2022 but has been delayed until now. According to the European Union, EES “will be an automated IT system for registering travelers from third-countries, both short-stay visa holders and visa-exempt travelers, each time they cross an EU external border.”
Which European countries will no longer be stamping passports?
The new digital EES is being adopted by the 29 countries in the European Schengen Area. They are:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
How will the new digital entry process in Europe work?
To use the system, travelers need to have a biometric passport, otherwise known as an electronic or e-passport, which Americans have had since 2007 (the symbol with two rectangles and a circle in the middle on the cover of your passport indicates it is a biometric passport).
Visitors to the EU without biometric passports will be required to undergo additional processing at the border and will not be able to use the self-service passport kiosks. Anyone who refuses to provide the data will not be allowed to enter the EU. In addition to recording passport information, the system will log precisely when travelers enter and exit the country and whether or not they’ve ever been refused entry.
Who will have access to travelers’ personal data?
According to an online EU explainer about the new EES system, entities that will have access to your personal data will include European border, visa, and immigration control; Europol for law enforcement purposes; transport carriers to verify the number of entries authorized for a particular visa holder; and “under strict conditions, your data may be transferred to another country (inside or outside the EU) or international organization.”
Time will tell whether the new system will deliver on its promises of more reliable and faster border crossings. Either way, for those who treasure stamps as souvenirs of destinations once visited, the change might be hard to stomach. However, it’ll also mean that travelers who frequently visit the EU, be it for work or pleasure, may not need to get a new passport as often.
Is this the same as Europe’s new ETIAS travel authorization process?
The new EES system is related to but separate from the also delayed ETIAS travel authorization program for Europe. The plan is to launch ETIAS six months after EES is up and running, meaning that it is now expected to start in the first half of 2025. Travelers from outside of the EU will be charged a seven-euro (about $7.75 with current conversion rates) entry fee for an entry authorization that will be valid for three years or until the passport associated with it expires.
Though travelers will need to apply for ETIAS ahead of time, it’s not officially a visa; it’s more similar to the US ESTA, the Canadian eTA, or the British ETA, which are all systems that determine the eligibility of visitors to travel to the country under a visa waiver program.
