The European Union’s new biometric Exit/Entry System (EES) obtained off to a chaotic begin at Prague’s worldwide airport, with vacationers dealing with prolonged queues and malfunctioning gear forcing border workers to course of arrivals manually.
Jim Moore, an worker relations knowledgeable at HR consultancy Hamilton Nash, spent almost 90 minutes within the immigration queue at Vaclav Havel Airport on Sunday afternoon, 12 October – the day the service made its debut.
The self-service EES enrollment machines—designed to gather biometric information from non-EU vacationers earlier than passport management have been out of service, leaving officers to manually deal with each the brand new registration necessities and commonplace border checks.
“The officers have been having to do it themselves,” Moore informed The Register. “It is a traditional multi-thread to single-thread downside.”
Moore averted a good longer wait when workers known as out for Australian and British passport holders, redirecting them to a desk usually reserved for EU residents. There, officers bypassed the EES enrollment fully and waved them via. “I managed to flee it,” he stated.
After Moore tweeted a photograph of the queue and warned a colleague arriving later to count on important delays, the scenario improved. By the point his colleague’s flight landed a few hours later, the EES machines have been operational and the backlog had cleared.
Simon Calder, journey editor of The Impartial, had a special expertise. His Ryanair flight was scheduled to reach ten minutes earlier than the EES system went stay at midnight however landed 25 minutes early. Regardless of intentionally ready previous midnight, Calder discovered the machines nonetheless weren’t activated and handed via passport management with out enrolling within the new system.
The Entry/Exit System requires vacationers aged 12 and above from non-EU international locations to register fingerprints, facial biometrics, and passport data upon first arrival at any border inside the 29-nation Schengen space. Enrollment is free and creates a document legitimate for 3 years. The EU plans to introduce a associated scheme, the European Journey Info and Authorisation System (ETIAS), in late 2026, which would require advance authorization and carry a €20 price.
Prague Airport acknowledged the difficulties, posting a banner on its web site stating: “Resulting from introduction of the Entry/Exit System (EES) efficient twelfth October 2025, longer ready occasions at each arrival and departure border management would possibly have an effect on non-EU nationals.”
In response to passenger inquiries on social media, the airport warned that “within the preliminary section of the EES, longer ready occasions at border management might happen,” significantly when a number of flights arrive concurrently or when massive plane land.
Most Schengen international locations are introducing EES progressively between now and March 2026, together with three French border management posts on British soil at Dover, Folkestone, and London St Pancras station. Nevertheless, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Luxembourg opted for quick implementation from day one.
Prague is a very standard vacation spot for British vacationers, with 2.1 million visiting the Czech capital in 2024 — a 29 p.c improve on the earlier yr — making easy border operations particularly important. ®
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