Portugal informally relaxes EU border checks as airport queues grow

Greece has already suspended the Entry/Exit System at airports and Italy, Spain, France, and Croatia could follow before peak summer season

Portugal has begun informally relaxing EU border checks at airports, waving passengers through when queues become excessive as pressure mounts on other popular holiday destinations to ease enforcement before May half-term.

According to a Times article published on May 3, 2026, border officials at airports including Lisbon, Faro, and Porto are easing enforcement during busy periods rather than subjecting all travelers to the full biometric registration process.

The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES), which became operational across the Schengen area last month, requires non-EU travelers, including those from the UK, to register fingerprints and facial images on arrival, replacing traditional passport stamps.

Travelers report inconsistent checks

Chelsea Dickenson, founder of Holiday Expert, said she experienced no checks on arrival in Porto despite pre-registering via the Travel to Europe app developed by Frontex.

In a video posted to her half a million Instagram followers, she said: "I've not been asked anything at all — no scans, no fingerprints." She added that staff told her the mandatory checks would be introduced "in the future."

However, she encountered full biometric checks on her return journey to London.

Greece suspends the system

Greece has suspended the EES at airports until at least September following severe queues that caused significant disruption for UK holidaymakers.

The move has intensified pressure on other southern European destinations to adopt similar measures during peak summer season. Italy is expected to follow and may allow travelers to enter using passport stamps if congestion builds. Spain, France, and Croatia could do the same.

Impact on tourism

Research commissioned by Co-op Insurance found that 29% of UK adults would be put off traveling to Europe because of the EES. Of those, more than a third (34%) said they did not like the idea of having their biometrics on file.

Seamus McCauley from travel company Holiday Extras believes countries will have no choice but to defy the EU requirements to protect tourism-dependent livelihoods.

"Countries are not going to sit back and let Greece take their trade because they won't face EES delays at airports. To do so would be politically toxic as jobs are on the line," he told the Mail Online.

"The rollout has been an utter fiasco. British tourists are worth €3.5 billion a year to the Greek economy and it has rightly decided it will not jeopardize that because EES is not working properly."

McCauley said it "seems certain" Portugal and Italy will soon follow suit, adding that the system could "collapse like a house of cards, with Spain, France and Croatia coming to the same conclusion because nobody wants to see their tourist trade go to another country simply to comply with the EU."