The European Union’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) launched for non-EU travelers arriving in the Schengen Area in April 2026, and its rollout has been rocky from the start. Two days after EES went live, an easyJet flight from Milan Linate to Manchester departed with only 34 of its 156 booked passengers after hours-long queues at passport control, stranding 122 travellers in Italy.
The disruption hasn’t eased. After a summer of long queues and technical difficulties, Brussels has quietly backed down. Initially, a 150-day grace period was supposed to end on September 6 with no extension planned, but at least nine countries, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland, informed the European Commission they wouldn’t fully enforce the checks until the technology worked properly. The Commission informally agreed, this time with no deadline attached. The patchwork is playing out in public: on X, Steven Wirth called Geneva Airport the worst EES implementation he’d experienced, reporting two-hour queues with only a third to half of booths open and passengers missing flights, while another, Kushan Mitra, arriving in Germany described scanning his own biometrics only to be sent to a human officer who still stamped his passport by hand. In practice, whether your fingerprints and photo are taken now depends on which border you cross, and no one can say for how long.
And yet EES isn’t the system travelers are worried about. Google Trends shows searches for “apply for an etias visa online” are up 2,050% worldwide in the past month, for something you can’t actually do. Due to the travel chaos caused by the EES, the launch of ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System), has been postponed to 2027. It isn’t currently required when traveling to Europe, nor is it a visa.
That’s the confusion in a nutshell: the system everyone is Googling isn’t live, and the one that is live has just been paused in nine countries. They’re separate schemes that work together at different stages of a trip, and knowing which is which is the difference between a smooth arrival and a problem at the gate.
What is the EES?
The Entry/Exit System became fully operational across the Schengen Area on April 10, 2026, after a phased rollout in October 2025. It was created under EU Regulation 2017/2226 and replaces passport stamps with a central digital record maintained by eu-LISA.
When travelers first enter the Schengen Area, the border authority creates a file containing the name and passport details, a facial image, and, where required, fingerprints. As well as the date and location of every entry and exit. Children under 12 have a facial image taken but do not have fingerprints taken. On later trips, the record already exists, so the registration should be quicker.
What this means for travelers:
- It generally applies to all non-EU/EEA nationals on short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, whether traveling visa-free or holding a Schengen visa.
- Several groups are exempt, including EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens. As well as holders of a long-stay (Type D) visa, a residence permit, or accredited diplomats.
- There is no fee and nothing to apply for. Registration happens at the border itself.
- It automatically enforces the 90/180 rule. The system calculates travel days rather than leaving officers to read stamps. Overstays are now recorded in a shared database.
- The data is kept for three years after the most recent exit. If travelers overstay or are refused entry, that rises to five years.
- The first registration can take longer, contributing to reported queues at some major airports during peak season. It’s worth allowing extra time on your first post-rollout trip.
Two things are important to know. Ireland is not part of the EES as it runs its own checks under the Common Travel Area with the UK. And airlines and other carriers now have their own obligations to verify traveler records, which is why the system reaches beyond the border booth itself.
The EES, therefore, doesn’t change who can enter Europe or how long someone can stay. It simply records the movements far more precisely than a stamp ever could.
What is ETIAS?
ETIAS is a different kind of system entirely. It’s a pre-travel authorization, not a visa - the same idea as the UK’s ETA or US ESTA, which travelers may already be familiar with and apply for online before they fly. Like those schemes, it’s aimed at visa-exempt travelers, including citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan. The main purpose is to pre-screen travelers for security, irregular migration, and public health risks before they arrive.
Once the system is live, eligible travelers will complete a short online application linked to their passport. The details are as currently available:
- It will apply to 30 European countries: 26 EU member states plus the four Schengen-associated countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland). Cyprus is included, even though it is not yet part of the EES biometric database. Ireland is not part of ETIAS.
- The fee is €20 per application, payable by travelers aged 18 to 70. Those under 18 and over 70 are exempt from the fee but still need an authorization.
- An approval is valid for three years, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first, and allows multiple entries.
- It covers the same short-stay window: 90 days within any 180-day period.
- It is not a visa and doesn’t guarantee entry. Border officers and the EES record of your previous stays still determine what happens on arrival. ETIAS itself doesn’t log your travel history; that’s the EES’s job.
The important caveat: ETIAS is not live yet. No application portal is open, and travelers don’t need it for current trips. The EU’s guidance points to a launch in 2027, with the exact date to be announced around six months in advance and a transition period of roughly six months after launch, during which an ETIAS is recommended but not yet strictly enforced.
That timeline has already shifted more than once, so any date is to be treated as provisional.
EES vs ETIAS at a glance
![An infographic highlighting the differences between EES and ETIAS]()
How the systems work together
The two systems aren’t an either/or; they're built to complement each other.
The EES records who is crossing the border and how long each person stays. ETIAS, once live, screens visa-exempt travelers in advance so anyone who could be a concern is flagged way before boarding. For a visa-exempt traveler, that means obtaining an approved ETIAS before flying and being registered through the EES. In comparison, a traveler who holds a Schengen visa is covered by it and won’t need an ETIAS, but still has to register in the EES.
“The names are so similar that people assume they’re the same rule with two labels, and that’s where the trouble starts,” shares iVisa’s Director for Customer Experience, Victor Gimenez. “One is automatic, free and already active. The other is something you’ll need to sort out before you travel, and only if your nationality requires it. The mistake we expect to see is travelers turning up next year assuming ETIAS is handled at the airport the way EES is. It won’t be. Once ETIAS becomes mandatory, travelers who need one will need to have it sorted before departure.”
What to do before your next trip
- Check what your nationality requires. Whether you need a visa, an ETIAS once it launches, or even travel visa-free. Confirm your situation with official EU guidance.
- Expect the EES at the border. There’s nothing to prepare beyond your passport and a little patience on your first crossing.
- Watch for the ETIAS launch date. When applications open, you’ll want your authorization approved well before departure, not in the boarding queue.
When ETIAS applications do open, it’s exactly the kind of pre-travel authorization iVisa is built to handle. It sits in the same family as the UK ETA, US ESTA, and Canada eTA that the platform already supports: a short, guided form; an expert review to catch errors, such as mismatched passport details, before submission; and 24/7 support in 14+ languages. The €20 government fee will apply, with an iVisa service fee on top for the guided process. Final approval always rests with the relevant authorities. iVisa has helped over 3 million travelers since 2013, with a 99% approval rate across its applications.
