The EU Entry/Exit System (EES): what it is and what it changes

The Entry/Exit System (EES) is the EU's digital border register. It records every entry and exit of non-EU travellers on short stays, with a facial image and fingerprints, in place of a passport stamp. It has been fully in use at the external borders of 29 European countries since 10 April 2026. The 90/180 rule itself has not changed, but your days are now counted automatically, so an overstay is picked up by the system and no longer depends on someone reading stamps.

What is the EES?

The EU describes it as "an automated IT system for registering non-EU nationals travelling for a short stay, each time they cross the external borders" of the countries that use it. It started on 12 October 2025 and was phased in over six months. Since 10 April 2026 it has been fully operational at every external border crossing point of those countries.

It applies to you if you are not a national of an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, and you are travelling for a short stay. That covers travellers who need a short-stay visa and travellers who do not, such as UK, US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passport holders.

Which countries use the EES?

The 29 countries of the Schengen area: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Cyprus and Ireland are in the EU but do not use the EES. Passports are still stamped by hand there.

What does the EES record?

According to the EU, the system collects and stores:

• the data in your travel document, such as your full name and date of birth
• the date and place of each entry and exit
• your facial image and fingerprints
• whether you were refused entry

If you travel without a visa, it stores four fingerprints and your facial image. If you hold a short-stay visa, it stores only the facial image, because your fingerprints were taken when you applied. Children under 12 do not have their fingerprints scanned.

The EU states that if you refuse to give your biometric data you will be denied entry.

Records of entries and exits are kept for three years. If no exit is recorded, the data is kept for five years from the date your permitted stay ran out.

What happens at the border now?

On your first crossing a border officer, or a self-service kiosk, takes your photo and fingerprints and creates your record. On later trips the officer checks you against that record, which is quicker. Your passport is not stamped.

You do not need to do anything before you travel, and GOV.UK confirms there is no charge for EES registration. Do not confuse it with ETIAS, the separate travel authorisation that will carry a fee once it starts.

If you leave the UK through the Port of Dover, on Eurotunnel Le Shuttle from Folkestone or on Eurostar from London St Pancras, the EES checks happen before you leave the UK, because French border control is carried out there. On other routes you are registered when you arrive.

The EU also has a mobile app, Travel to Europe, for registering some details up to 72 hours before you cross. It is optional, does not replace the border check, and on 5 October 2026 was accepted only in Sweden and, for the entry questionnaire, in Portugal.

Does the EES change the 90/180 rule?

No. In the EU's words: "The implementation of the EES changes nothing to the rules on short stays: these rules are harmonised in the Schengen Borders Code and allow periods of stay for 90 days in any 180 days." The 90 days are still counted as a single total across all 29 countries.

What has changed is who does the counting. Before the EES, a border officer had to add up the stamps in your passport by hand. Now the system holds every entry and exit and works out the total itself. The EU says: "If you overstay the period allowed in the European countries using the EES, the system will identify you and record this information."

If you want the rule itself explained, see what the 90/180 rule is.

What happens if I overstay now?

You are identified as an overstayer and added to a list that passport control officers, immigration officers and visa staff can see. What follows depends on the law of the country concerned. The EU lists removal from the territory, administrative fines or detention, and being prevented from re-entering in future. Entry bans are set case by case and, in the EU's words, "shall not in principle exceed five years". GOV.UK's advice for France says an overstay may mean a ban from Schengen countries for up to three years.

If you overstayed for a reason outside your control, such as a stay in hospital, you can give evidence to the authorities and ask for the record to be amended.

Here is how a miscount gets caught. Say you were in Portugal from 3 November to 20 December 2026, which is 48 days, and you return to Spain on 10 February 2027 planning to leave on 31 March. That second stay is 50 days, and 48 plus 50 is 98. Both stays fall inside the same 180-day period, so your 90th day is 23 March 2027. Leave on 31 March and you have overstayed by eight days. With stamps, that depended on an officer doing the sum. With the EES, the system has already done it when you reach the exit desk.

Who does the EES not apply to?

The EU's list includes:

• nationals of the countries using the EES, and of Cyprus and Ireland
• holders of residence permits and long-stay visas
• non-EU nationals who hold a residence card and are immediately related to an EU national
• nationals of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, and holders of a Vatican City State or Holy See passport

UK nationals covered by the Withdrawal Agreement are exempt only if they hold the specific residence document issued under it. If you live in a Schengen country on a residence permit, see residence permits and the 90/180 rule.

Can I check my days in the EES myself?

Yes. The EU runs an online tool that reads your EES record and tells you how many days of your permitted stay remain. Two things to know about it. It works from the trips already in your record plus one intended arrival or departure date, so it cannot tell you whether a trip you take next month will leave room for the one you have booked after it. And the EU states that its answer "cannot be interpreted as a decision to grant or refuse entry".

How Schengen Simple helps

The EES counts the days you have already spent. Schengen Simple is for the part that comes before the border: you add past trips and the ones you are planning, and it shows how many days you would have on any date, so you can see a problem months ahead and move a trip while it is still cheap to change. Now that every day is counted by a system, planning to the exact day matters more than it did with stamps.