For the first time, the European Union will require visitors to submit personal data — their faces and fingerprints — when they enter or exit borders.
The Entry/Exit System, or E.E.S., began on Sunday and is scheduled to be rolled out to all border security checkpoints at ports, airports and land crossings over the next six months. It will eventually lead to the elimination of passport stamping, and it is part of a broad effort by the European Union to better secure its borders.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the system will be in effect in its early days; travelers should expect some differences in how countries handle the changes.
“This patchwork rollout underscores that the launch of E.E.S. is a process rather than a single moment,” said Jo Antoons, a partner at the global immigration firm Fragomen. “The question isn’t so much which countries will switch on but rather which border posts are ready and how quickly they can bring the system online.”
Here’s what travelers should know.
What is the E.E.S.?
It is an automated system that registers a traveler’s entry and exit dates at borders of the European Union’s 29-country Schengen Area, as well as their travel documents and personal data.
At the initial collection, passport officers will take a photo of a traveler’s face and scan their fingerprints. After this, passport control officers will verify a traveler’s identity using this record.
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The post Visiting the European Union? Expect to Give Your Biometric Data. appeared first on New York Times.
