The European Union intends to launch its biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) on November 10, 2024.

Digital ID is quickly approaching for travel to Europe.

Per Biometric Update:

With the new Entry/Exit System (EES) formally scheduled to launch on November 10, 2024, Europe will deploy the “most modern digital border management system in the world,” according to European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.

“Carriers, operators, train stations, airports – everyone is getting ready for the big day,” says Johannsen, in comments from a speech given in Estonia to the the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), which built and will maintain the EES IT infrastructure.

On launch, the EES will replace stamps in physical passports by digitally registering the data of non-EU citizens whenever they enter and exit external Schengen borders, to ensure they don’t stay in the Schengen area for more than 90 days in any 180-day period. Travelers will be required to submit fingerprint and face biometrics on their first crossing; subsequent EES crossings will only require a passport scan at a self-serve kiosk to match the ID document against enrolled biometric data.

“We will know exactly who enters the Schengen Area with a foreign passport,” Johannson said, according to Biometric Update.

“We will know if people stay too long, countering irregular migration. And the Entry/Exit System will make it harder for criminals, terrorists or Russian spies to use fake passports, thanks to biometric identification: photos and fingerprints. There’ll be an immediate warning: this person is not who he says he is,” Johannson added.

From the European Commission:

The Entry/Exit System (EES) will be an automated IT system for registering travellers from third-countries, both short-stay visa holders and visa exempt travellers, each time they cross an EU external border. The system will register the person’s name, type of the travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and captured facial images) and the date and place of entry and exit, in full respect of fundamental rights and data protection.

It will also record refusals of entry. 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 over-stayers (travellers who have exceeded the maximum duration of their authorised stay).

EES will contribute to prevent irregular migration and help protect the security of European citizens. The new system will also help bona fide third-country nationals to travel more easily while also identifying more efficiently over-stayers as well as cases of document and identity fraud. In addition to this, the system will allow a wider use of automated border control checks and self-service systems, which are quicker and more comfortable for the traveller.

“EES is designed to improve border security, including tackling illegal migration in the Schengen Area by keeping a new digital record of people that enter,” the UK government wrote.

The ‘solution’ for illegal immigration rolled out to the masses.

More info from the UK government:

From autumn 2024, the EU will be introducing a new digital border system to strengthen the security of its external Schengen border.

The new registration process – called the Entry/Exit System, or EES for short – is expected to be introduced in November, however the EU has yet to confirm a specific date for its introduction.

It will apply to those travelling to the Schengen area which encompasses all EU countries, except from Cyprus and Ireland. Additionally, the non-EU States Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also part of the Schengen area.
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This will require most citizens of countries outside the EU to create a digital record and register their biometric details, such as providing fingerprints and having their photo taken, when they enter the Schengen area. This should only take a few minutes for each person to do. ​
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British travellers will need to do this on their first visit to the EU after EES is introduced.​ Their record will be checked on point of entry into the Schengen area verifying either their fingerprint or photograph.

At some ports in the South of England (Dover, Eurotunnel and St Pancras – where the French Border Force operate immigration checks in the UK), EES will be carried out before departure. There may be increased wait times while EES registration is completed before passengers leave the UK.
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If British travellers decide to visit a country in the Schengen area again within a three-year period of creating their digital record, they will only need to provide either their fingerprint or photograph at the border on entry and exit.

EES will bolster border security for both the EU and their neighbouring countries.

 

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