The new Schengen Entry and Exit System (EES) will be introduced on October 12, 2025 : What this means for non-European travelers
Planned since a European regulation dated November 30, 20171, the new system for sharing information on the entry and exit of non-European nationals in the Schengen area will finally come into force on October 12, 2025.
In practical terms, every entry by a non-European citizen into the Schengen area for a short period (less than 90 days), as well as every exit and every decision to refuse entry, will now be subject to automated information sharing between all Schengen area countries.
The persons concerned will have to go through an automated device and provide certain personal information, give their fingerprints, and have their photograph taken. It will no longer be necessary to stand before a border police officer and have an entry or exit stamp applied to the passport.
In theory, this will speed up border checks and facilitate the work of border police, who already have access to the Visa Information System (VIS) and the Schengen Information System (SIS), which contains information on persons who are banned from entering the Schengen area.
For those affected, the main advantage is that they will instantly receive information on the number of days they have left to spend in the Schengen area. This calculation, which can sometimes be complex, previously had to be done by the individuals themselves based on the time spent in the Schengen area in the previous 90 days.
As a reminder, any third-country national with a short-stay visa (also known as a Schengen visa) or without one if exempt, may stay in the Schengen area for a maximum duration of 90 days per 180-day period. In other words, at any given time, they cannot have spent more than 90 days in the previous 180 days. This means that when they enter the Schengen area, the EES system can calculate the exact number of days they have left before they must leave the territory of the area.
This information will now be automatically provided to the person concerned.
As a corollary, the EES system will also allow for systematic penalties for overstaying in the Schengen area. It is to be expected that refusals of entry in such cases will become systematic, which is far from being the case today.
As a reminder, entry into the EES should not be confused with the ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System), which will require non-European nationals exempt from Schengen visas to obtain authorization prior to any travel within the area, based on a model similar to the US ESTA. This will not come into force until the end of 2026.
- Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2017 establishing an Entry/Exit System (EES) ↩︎