EU Entry/Exit System Is Live at Every Border, and ETIAS Is Delayed Again With No Date

If you're not an EU citizen and you've crossed into Europe this year, you've probably met the Entry/Exit System. It's the reason the passport booth now wants your fingerprints and a photo of your face. The system started on October 12 2025, a year ago tomorrow, and the deadline to have it running at every external border crossing was April 10 2026.

It replaces the stamp. Instead of ink on a page, your entry and exit go into a database, along with your biometrics, so the 90-days-in-180 rule for short stays is counted by machine. It's free. Records are kept for three years after your last exit.

A woman in a red coat checks her phone next to a man with a rolling suitcase on a busy evening street

The arrival evening. Phone out, earbuds in, suitcase rolling behind. Most of the stress of a trip now happens on a screen before you get anywhere near a border, which is how the EU hopes this will work too.

The queues

The first months were rough at some crossings, especially land borders and ports where everyone in a car has to be registered. The rules let countries partly suspend the checks for up to 90 days after April, plus another 60, to get through the summer peak. Expect your first entry under EES to take longer than usual. After that, you're in the system and it should be quicker.

ETIAS: not yet

The second piece is ETIAS, an online travel authorisation for visitors who don't need a visa, including Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and Israelis. It will cost €20 for ages 18 to 70, up from the €7 first announced, and last three years or until the passport expires.

It was meant to start in late 2026. In July the Financial Times reported a slip to 2027, and in August the EU postponed it without a new date. The start will be announced months in advance, with a transition period after launch.

So for now there's nothing to apply for. Any website selling you an ETIAS today is a scam, or at best a middleman charging for a form that doesn't exist yet.

The UK has its own version. Its ETA went up to £20 in April 2026 and is valid for two years. That one's live.