Planning a trip to Europe next year? Well, it might get a whole lot more complicated. A law from the European Union means that non-EU travellers will have to register biometric details at the border – including their fingerprints.
The new system (dubbed the European Union Entry/Exit System or EES) is set to come into effect at the start of 2024. It’s thought that the process will be entirely automated, with arrivals having to have photographs and fingerprints taken at self-service kiosks at the border, as well as having their passports scanned.
It’s worth noting that this has all been on the cards for a while. The collection of biometric data has long been planned with the development of the EU’s new ETIAS visa scheme for non-EU arrivals (find out more about that here). The data will apparently be erased three years after your last trip to the EU.
So, next time you jet off to the likes of France, Spain, Italy or any EU country, things might not be as straightforward as they are currently! The new system will apply to travellers from all non-EU countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Japan.
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