- The temporary suspension of biometric data collection for up to six hours expired on 6 September 2026, ending the summer “safety valve”
- Non-EU travellers now face 90-second passport checks compared to the previous 20-second average
- Irish passport holders remain exempt from EES but may face delays in shared queues
- Major airports previously recorded wait times up to 5 hours before the summer pause
- Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal project the most significant increases in border wait times
The temporary emergency flexibility measures for the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) have officially expired today, 6 September 2026, closing a safety valve that allowed member states to suspend biometric data collection during peak congestion. The European border agency Frontex has confirmed that the flexibility will not be renewed despite sustained lobbying from airline and airport associations, including IATA and ABTA, who had argued for an extension through the winter season.
The mandatory biometric registration now applies to all non-EU travellers entering or exiting the Schengen Area, with passport checks requiring approximately 90 seconds per person compared to the historical average of 20 seconds. British passport holders and other non-EU citizens face full mandatory scanning, while Irish passport holders remain exempt from the EES itself, although they may encounter collateral delays when funnelled into shared queues. Major airports including Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Lisbon previously logged peak wait times reaching up to 5 hours before the summer pause was triggered.
Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal project the sharpest increases in airport and port wait times, with travel experts advising against booking journeys with minimum connection times. A European Commission spokesperson stated that the EES had functioned generally correctly over the summer, while confirming that a few member states still require minor adjustments at specific crossing points through the end of the year.
England’s ABTA director of public affairs Luke Petherbridge shared “We continue to press the European Commission to allow the use of these measures beyond September, recognising that there is still a way to go until EES is fully and uniformly operational across all participating countries”
