Long queues stretching up to four hours at Geneva Airport on December 20 have thrown a harsh spotlight on the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System, the biometric border regime now being phased in across the Schengen area.

The disruption, affecting mainly non‑EU arrivals who must enroll fingerprints and facial images, has forced Swiss authorities to temporarily scale back use of the system in Geneva to ease congestion and has intensified concerns that wider rollouts at Europe’s busiest hubs could collide disastrously with peak holiday travel.

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Biometric border checks trigger four‑hour waits at Geneva

Passengers arriving at Geneva Airport on Saturday reported snaking lines at passport control as the Entry/Exit System, or EES, struggled to cope with surges of non‑EU travelers needing first‑time biometric registration.

With each individual required to scan a biometric passport, capture facial images and record four fingerprints before proceeding to a manual border check, processing times sharply increased compared with traditional passport stamping.

Travelers described missing onward connections, standing in static queues for up to four hours and seeing families with young children caught in crowded arrival halls. Airport staff and border police were redeployed to manage the flow, but the sheer volume of passengers arriving in concentrated waves from long‑haul and regional flights overwhelmed the new procedures.

Faced with mounting congestion, Geneva’s border authorities partially paused or throttled back use of EES for some arrivals, reverting at times to conventional manual processing to clear the backlog. Aviation and airport sources said the move was a “temporary operational adjustment” intended to restore basic throughputs and avoid safety concerns in overcrowded corridors and immigration halls.

Geneva, one of Europe’s key gateways for winter sports and alpine tourism, has been considered an early test of how well EES can cope with seasonal peaks. Saturday’s disruption suggests that even a partial deployment can tip a busy hub into gridlock when passenger volumes, technical glitches and first‑time enrollments converge.

What the EU’s Entry/Exit System is designed to do

The Entry/Exit System is the European Union’s flagship digital border database for short‑stay visitors from outside the bloc and the wider Schengen area. Instead of relying on passport stamps, which are prone to error and cannot be easily shared in real time, EES records each entry and exit electronically, linking travel movements to biometric identifiers such as a facial image and fingerprints.

For each qualifying traveler, the system stores key passport details, nationality, gender, date and place of crossing, and the precise duration of stays. In principle, this allows border authorities to automatically calculate how many days a visitor has used within the 90‑days‑in‑180‑days rule that governs most visa‑free and short‑stay trips. It also aims to make it easier to detect overstayers and identity fraud using shared data across the Schengen area.

The system applies to so‑called third‑country nationals, which includes citizens of the United States, United Kingdom and many other non‑EU countries who travel visa‑free, as well as those who hold short‑stay Schengen visas. Nationals of EU and Schengen states are exempt. Once a traveler has been enrolled during their first EES encounter, subsequent crossings should, in theory, be faster, since the biometric profile is already stored and only needs to be verified.

European institutions and national governments have promoted EES as a cornerstone of a modernized border regime that enhances security while ultimately shortening queues, especially when paired with automated gates and self‑service kiosks. The early operational reality at airports such as Geneva has so far fallen short of that promise.

A phased rollout that is straining airport capacity

EES formally went live across Schengen external borders on October 12, 2025, under a 180‑day phased rollout schedule that runs to April 10, 2026. Switzerland introduced the system at Geneva and Basel airports from the initial go‑live date, with Zurich following later in November.

Other EU and Schengen states have been activating EES at major airports, seaports and land crossings in waves, often starting with limited volumes of travelers.

To avoid an immediate shock, European authorities initially capped the share of arriving third‑country nationals processed fully through EES at roughly 10 percent in many locations. That share is programmed to increase progressively, with airports working toward 35 percent of eligible travelers passing through the biometric process in early January 2026 before ultimate full coverage by April.

Airports Council International Europe, which represents airport operators, has warned that even the early phases have already increased border processing times by as much as 70 percent at some locations.

Reported peak waits of up to three hours have emerged from airports in countries including Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Greece as passengers unfamiliar with the new procedures confront long queues at kiosks, technical hitches and staff shortages.

Saturday’s scenes at Geneva highlight the tension inherent in this stepped approach. While only a minority of arriving passengers were routed through EES, their longer processing times were enough to slow the overall flow, particularly during banks of arriving flights.

As the proportion of travelers subject to full biometric checks rises in the new year, the risk of bottlenecks at airports with limited immigration hall capacity grows correspondingly.

Operational challenges behind the long queues

Aviation and border experts say the problems seen in Geneva and other early adopter airports stem from a combination of technical, behavioral and structural factors. Self‑service kiosks and biometric capture stations have experienced intermittent outages, software slowdowns and calibration issues, which can quickly ripple across queues when each traveler requires several minutes to complete the process.

Many passengers are encountering the system for the first time, often with limited advance information about what will be required. Confusion about which queues to join, how to use kiosks and when children must present fingerprints create additional delays at each station. Language barriers and travelers unfamiliar with digital interfaces compound the problem, especially among older visitors or those arriving after long flights.

Staffing levels at some border posts have not yet been fully reconfigured for the new workflow, which requires personnel both to guide passengers through kiosks and to conduct final checks at the border booth. Authorities must also handle edge cases such as unreadable passports, individuals unable to provide fingerprints and travelers with exemptions or special status, all of which take extra time.

Physical space is another constraint. Many European airports were designed around traditional queues for manual passport stamping, not banks of self‑service kiosks plus holding areas for passengers awaiting biometric capture.

At Geneva, as at several other hubs, the resulting crowding in confined arrival halls has raised genuine safety concerns at peak times, prompting emergency operational adjustments such as temporarily suspending some EES processing.

Concerns grow for Christmas and summer peak travel

The Geneva disruption comes at the start of the critical winter holiday period, when European ski traffic, family visits and long‑haul tourism combine to produce some of the heaviest passenger flows of the year. Industry groups fear that if EES teething problems are not rapidly resolved, queues could spill far beyond immigration areas, causing knock‑on disruption to baggage collection, ground transport and flight punctuality.

Airports Council International Europe has already urged the European Commission and member states to retain “maximum flexibility” in the rollout schedule if performance does not improve substantially by January. That could mean slowing the planned escalation in the share of travelers processed through EES, allowing temporary suspensions at pinch‑point airports during peak days or authorizing additional resources for staffing and equipment.

Looking ahead to the summer 2026 season, when EES is meant to be fully operational across the Schengen external border, the stakes are even higher. Major hubs such as Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, Barcelona, Rome Fiumicino and Lisbon routinely handle vast numbers of non‑EU passengers across complex connection banks.

Any persistent mismatch between EES processing capacity and passenger demand could translate into systemic delays, missed connections and reputational damage to European tourism.

Tour operators, airlines and travel agencies are already adjusting their messaging to customers, advising extra time for border formalities and flagging the risk of extended waits on arrival in Europe. Some are reviewing minimum connection times at affected airports and warning against tight self‑made itineraries that rely on clearing immigration quickly between separate tickets.

How travelers can prepare for EES at Schengen airports

While the underlying causes of congestion lie largely in system design and infrastructure, individual travelers can take steps to reduce the likelihood of delay when encountering EES for the first time.

Officials and airlines alike stress the importance of traveling with a valid biometric passport, ensuring it is undamaged and has sufficient remaining validity. Non‑biometric documents are more likely to trigger manual intervention, slowing processing further.

Passengers are advised to watch for pre‑departure communications from airlines and tour operators, which increasingly contain guidance on EES procedures at specific airports. Reviewing these instructions before arrival can help travelers understand whether they will need to use a kiosk, which documents to present and how children are handled. Families may benefit from discussing the process in advance so that fingerprints and photos can be captured quickly when requested.

Onward connections are a particular point of vulnerability. Travel planners recommend allowing generous buffers between an international arrival into the Schengen area and any subsequent flight, especially if the second leg is on a separate ticket that does not carry protected connection rights.

Where possible, booking through itineraries on a single ticket can provide some protection, as airlines are then responsible for rebooking passengers who miss connections due to border delays.

Finally, patience and flexibility remain essential. For much of the next year, border queues across parts of Europe will reflect the realities of a major technological transition as EES ramps up. Travelers who build extra time into their itineraries and stay informed about evolving airport conditions will be better placed to navigate the inevitable disruptions.

Policy debate over security, privacy and practicality

The Geneva queues have also reignited debate about the broader policy trade‑offs embedded in EES. Supporters within EU institutions argue that systematic biometric registration is a necessary step to modernize borders, deter irregular migration and crack down on identity theft.

By automatically counting days spent in the Schengen area, the system makes it harder for visitors to overstay and easier for authorities to identify patterns that may signal security risks.

Civil liberties and privacy advocates, however, have raised concerns about the long‑term storage of biometric data on millions of travelers, the risk of misuse and the potential for errors to cascade across interconnected databases. They question whether the significant infrastructure and operational costs borne by airports, airlines and passengers are justified by the security benefits, particularly when early deployment has so visibly strained border systems.

Industry bodies such as ACI Europe have taken a middle line, endorsing the strategic goals of EES but insisting that implementation must not jeopardize airport safety or lead to chronic congestion. They are pressing for rapid technical improvements, better passenger information, more staffing support and ongoing flexibility in the rollout schedule to prevent repeats of the scenes witnessed in Geneva.

For now, policymakers in Brussels and national capitals face a difficult balancing act. Rolling back the system is politically and technically unlikely, but pressing ahead too rigidly risks undermining public confidence in both European travel and the digital border architecture meant to safeguard it.

FAQ

Q1: What exactly happened at Geneva Airport today with the new Entry/Exit System?
Passengers arriving on December 20 reported queues at passport control stretching up to four hours as many non‑EU travelers underwent first‑time biometric enrollment under the EU’s new Entry/Exit System, prompting authorities to partially pause or reduce EES processing to relieve congestion.

Q2: Who is affected by the Entry/Exit System at European airports?
The system applies to most non‑EU and non‑Schengen nationals on short stays, including travelers from visa‑exempt countries such as the United States and United Kingdom as well as those holding short‑stay Schengen visas, while EU and Schengen citizens are generally exempt.

Q3: What information do travelers have to provide under EES?
Eligible travelers must present a valid biometric passport and have their facial image captured along with fingerprints of four fingers, allowing the system to create a digital record that links their identity and travel document to each entry and exit in the Schengen area.

Q4: Why is EES causing long queues instead of speeding things up?
Initial enrollments take longer than a simple passport stamp, and when combined with technical glitches, limited staff trained on the new workflow, unfamiliar passengers and constrained physical space at border checkpoints, the result can be significantly increased processing times and queues.

Q5: How long will these kinds of delays likely continue at airports like Geneva?
Delays are expected to be most acute during the transition phase from late 2025 into early 2026 as more travelers are funneled into EES, with conditions likely to improve gradually as systems stabilize, staff gain experience and a greater share of passengers are already enrolled.

Q6: What should travelers do if they have a tight connection after arriving in Europe?
Travelers should build extra time into itineraries involving an initial arrival into the Schengen area, avoid very short independent connections where possible and prioritize single‑ticket itineraries, since airlines are generally more willing to assist passengers who miss protected connections due to border delays.

Q7: Does EES change how long I am allowed to stay in the Schengen area?
No, the underlying rules remain the same for most visitors, notably the widely known limit of up to 90 days within any 180‑day period for many visa‑free travelers, but EES automates the counting and makes overstays more visible to border authorities.

Q8: Is Geneva the only airport experiencing problems with the new system?
Geneva is one of the most visible current flashpoints, but reports of one‑to‑three‑hour waits have also emerged from other Schengen gateways where EES has been activated, including airports in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Q9: Can the new system be switched off if queues get too long?
National authorities retain discretion to adjust operations for safety and capacity reasons, and in Geneva today officials temporarily reduced or paused some EES processing so that manual checks could clear mounting queues, an option that may be used elsewhere during severe congestion.

Q10: When will the Entry/Exit System be fully rolled out across Schengen borders?
The EU plans a phased rollout over roughly 180 days from October 12, 2025, with full operational coverage at external air, land and sea borders targeted for April 10, 2026, after which most eligible non‑EU travelers entering or leaving the Schengen area will be processed through EES.