Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain
By Adam Woodward • Updated: 15 Oct 2024 • 1:37 • 1 minute read
Unready EES could have led to passport control delays. Credit: ChameleonsEye - Shutterstock
Entry/Exit System (EES) has been delayed once more. The European Union’s automated registry for short-stay travellers was expected to come into force on November 10.
‘November 10 is no longer on the table,’ Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said on Thursday, October 11. France, Germany, and the Netherlands hold reservations over their preparedness to implement the system correctly before Christmas.
The hope was to have brought the new biometric system in earlier this year, but France wanted it postponed so not to interrupt the influx of sports fans for the Olympics, and now Christmas shoppers.
According to EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren, the concern about bringing in EES too soon is that it would potentially have caused delays for British tourists visiting the EU. In a ‘worst-case scenario’, he said, passengers would be held on landed planes at the destination airport until their finger prints could be verified.
Commissioner Johannson spoke of a new concept being on the table for bringing the system in little by little, but this would depend on legal issues yet to be discussed at parliament level.
The EES is a comprehensive reform of identity checks for non-EU citizens that dates back to 2016 and has been repeatedly delayed since. The purpose is to modernise checks at the EU’s external borders and replace the traditional physical stamping of passports. It will apply to all non-EU citizens entering the European bloc, whether for holiday or business, for a maximum duration of 90 days within a 180-day period.
Under the scheme, all entries and exits will be recorded along with biometric information so to crack down on identity theft and those overstaying their welcome. All member states, except Cyprus and Ireland, and four Schengen-associate countries – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – are signed up to the scheme. Passports in Cyprus and Ireland will continue to be stamped manually.
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