Travellers to the EU will need to provide fingerprints and facial images when they enter the Schengen area as part of a new entry/exit system that will come into force on 12 October. But EU border officials say that the system will be gradually phased in over six months.
The October date was set by the European Commission on Wednesday (30 July).
The system is designed to replace manual passport stamping and is part of a broader effort to enhance border security, prevent irregular migration, and streamline travel.
The digital system “will provide reliable data on border crossings, systematically detect overstayers as well as cases of document and identity fraud”, said the EU commission in a statement on Wednesday.
The new entry/exit regime will also be a symbolic change in relations with the UK because it will require Britons, along with other third-country nationals from outside the EU single market, to register their travel plans.
On every subsequent journey, a fingerprint or a facial image will be verified along with passport number, in a major shift designed to get rid of “wet stamping” and allow the number of days visitors stay in the EU in any given year to be automatically recorded.
The ‘short stay’ regime allows people to stay in the EU for up to 90 days within any 180-day period.
It “will strengthen security in the Schengen Area by helping us identify overstayers, prevent irregular movements, and reduce document and identity fraud,” said EU migration commissioner Magnus Brunner.
The system had been scheduled for launch last October, but has been repeatedly delayed by difficulties getting the technology in place.
Those delays have still not been fully resolved and EU member states will have six months to introduce the digital system in full. It will be fully deployed at all border crossing points in April 2026, says the commission.
Frontex, the European border agency, has developed an app that will be used by border force officials to verify an individual’s biometrics, but confirmed it was up to each member state to implement its use.
However, the app is unlikely to be ready before November and, until then, individuals who travel frequently to the EU face having their fingerprints individually checked each time they cross the border into the Schengen area.
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Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.