New rules for entry into the European Union might slow down people without EU passports. File Photo by Patrick Seeger/EPA
The European Union has implemented a new digital border system for those traveling without an EU passport, and it’s likely to cause long lines at airports and border crossings.
The new Entry/Exit System requires non-EU passport holders who don’t need a visa to enter — including Americans — to present their passports, give fingerprints and take a photo when entering their first EU country if they are staying up to 90 days.
Ireland and Cyprus are not participating.
They will also have to answer a few questions about their visit, such as how long they’re staying, where and if they will have enough money.
People with a United States passport would have to do this upon landing at their first EU airport. After that, their passport will be enough for entry around Europe for three years, but they’ll have to answer questions on each trip.
Many airports and border crossings have set up electronic kiosks that allow users to scan themselves in, but the wait could be long. Before this, non-EU members could move freely across borders without stopping.
A new visa-waiver system called European Travel Information and Authorization System is coming at the end of 2026. No date has been announced yet. This will allow travelers to apply to register their information before their trips and link it to their passports.
ETIAS will cost $23.44 per person and will also last three years. Those under 18 and over 70 will not have to pay.
At Dover, England, ferry passengers have had to use the kiosks a mile away from the ferry, the BBC reported. People will have to take buses that will drive them to the ferry.
Eurostar, which runs trains through the English Channel Tunnel, has installed 49 EES kiosks in its London St. Pancras terminal. But right now border police are doing the checks, BBC reported.
Eurostar said it will use the kiosks “once the operational software and the activation timetable are confirmed and approved by the French Ministry of Interior.”
The Channel Tunnel has installed more than a hundred kiosks on each side of the Channel.
John and his wife Phil, a married couple from Motherwell, Scotland, said they stood in line for five hours in Pisa Airport after flying in from Glasgow.
John, with an Irish passport, was in line for an hour, but Phil has a British passport and had to wait.
“When I came through, all the planes which had arrived in the hours before had all their suitcases unloaded from the carousel, left stacked on the concourse floor,” John told the BBC.
“There were several elderly people in those queues and, as you can imagine at this time, lots of children. Our government must do something about this,” he said.
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Children race to push colored eggs across the grass during the annual Easter Egg Roll event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on April 21, 2025. Easter this year takes place on April 5. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
