If you were lamenting the end of passport stamps in the European Union Schengen Area, as I was, we have been granted a reprieve thanks to issues with “border computer systems” in at least three nations.
Passport Stamps Will Continue Into 2025 After European Union Digital Entry System Delay
An elaborate system, years in the making, that would have replaced passport stamps with biometric facial scans and fingerprinting for non-EU citizens has been delayed…indefinitely.
Set to launch on November 10, 2024, the so-called Entry/Exit System (EES) would have centralized immigration across EU member states in a bid to reduce overstays. The current system is disjointed, creating an opening for folks to enter through one country and exit through another with no repercussions for overstaying their visa.
That delay came after Germany, France, and the Netherlands (which represent a combined 40% of incoming traffic into the EU) said that “necessary stability and functionality of the EES central system to be provided by the EU agency EU-Lisa is not yet in place.”
(EU-Lisa is a public agency that implements large-scale IT systems within the EU)
The new EES system ties in with a new European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) system that is similar to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) in the United States, essentially providing advance registration for visa-waiver countries. The cost for that e-visa is set to start at €7 and has also been delayed.
I recently arrived in Germany via Stuttgart and saw all the new machines ready to go. Most machines have been placed at major ports of entry, but getting them to work and communicate with one another is a whole different matter.
Rather than flipping the switch at once, the EU is now reportedly considering a phased-in approach that could see that passport stamps linger on for years in certain nations.
Hopefully, the delay will be as long as Real ID delays here in the USA…I love passport stamps and how no registration or other paperwork is necessary before flying into the European Union for US and UK citizens for most types of visits. I’m not looking forward to being fingerprinted every time I enter the EU.
Computer-programs will always “be off” from reality .
Similar to Brandon or Camel-a … always “off” from reality .
Kinda like you. Always “off” topic.
Never a robot . Never brainwashed by television . Always in the here-and-now .
Trolls can’t help themselves.
Hopefully , in 17 days we will return to Reality World .
No more incoherent Camel-a whom no one had ever heard of , No more “Dr.” Jill Brandon pulling the puppet strings .
Cardiologist Jill Brandon was very upset that Harris was picked after she unfairly and savagely attacked Brandon during the debates for the Democratic primary for the presidential nomination, accusind Brandon of being a racist and against school busing. But Brandon really wanted only a woman and, if possible, only a Black woman, so Harris was picked.
@derek … Please don’t insult the noble medical cardiologists by including “Dr.” Jill among them .
She “earned” her PhD in Education with a thesis about Junior Colleges .
We must never mistake an Education PhD with a medical doctor .
You must have heard of her if you are so obsessed with her.
Not obsessed . Joseph Epstein wrote a funny essay about her titled “Is There a Doctor in the House” . Enjoy it .
I was referring to why you were so obsessed with Kamala Harris, since you keep bringing her up a lot.
Also didn’t he just write an op-ed about why he couldn’t back Trump?
The UK must rely on its own system for I have no stamps for my trips in and out of London….darn it!!
Recently, I requested one in London (since I have to go through the manual entry with the kids) and was obliged!
As a EU citizen there hasn’t been human interaction any time I enter my ir exit a EU country now for many years. You walk into a machine that reads your passport and performs a facial recognition and you are good to go. Basically what Global Entry is today but it was implemented in Europe a long time ago and there is no paper or conversation with an officer. I haven’t been to Asia in many years and that was the only place I used to get stamps. No stamps in Europe, US or Latam anymore.
@Santastico … My best stamps are my light blue stamps from Israel . I always insist Israel stamp my passport .
I have a passport where almost every page has a visa from Indonesia. They took the entire page and always skipped one where they would stamp. It was a huge waste of passport pages since every trip there needed a new visa on arrival. What a way to charge fees.
I believe that there will not be systematic fingerprinting each time one enters the EU. There will be once off fingerprinting and only facial recognition thereafter.
Inshallah.
I’d prefer not having to apply for an ETIAS, but at least it’s once per three years and will be free to me. I don’t get the desire to have a passport stamped. I hope the electronic entry system might speed things up, but who knows.
I like fun passport stamps, but there’s nothing fun about 100 Schengen stamps that all look the same wasting space in your passport. I was in Barbados earlier this week, and I was surprised to see that they no longer stamp. This should be the norm in most places very soon, and I for one welcome it. It’ll be nice to actually keep a passport for 10 years.
It’s actually a delay with the Schengen Area and not the European Union for those who don’t know the difference.
As for not looking forward to being fingerprinted on arrival, it’s time US citzens grew up and recognised they are merely getting a taste of what they have been inflicting on others for a long time now all as a result of home grown terrorism more than twenty years ago.
Yeah, you’d think Matthew would know the difference between the EU and the Schengen Area, and which countries are included.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entry/Exit_System
Brexit was smart .
If by smart you mean “shooting yourself in the foot is smart”, then yes, it was smart.
Which I said in my opening paragraph…
But these days, only Cyprus and Ireland are left outside Schengen.
I have a stamp from Larnica , which has a statue of Zeno the Stoic .
When did you get this stamp?
I looked for LCA passport stamps in my US passports from during the Clinton, GWB, Obama, Trump and Biden Admin years, and none of the Cypriot ones I saw in my passports for at least the last 30 years had any statue of a person in them.
And also includes some non-EU countries as well.
ETIAS and EES are EU-level projects. That they are meant to apply to Schengen countries doesn’t nullify that ETIAS and EES are EU projects.
This is EU LISA’s baby.