The European Union (EU) member states began on Sunday to execute the digital entry/exit system (EES) and exit system at the external boundaries of the BLOC, which electronically register the data of non-EU citizens. With the replacement of the usual passport procedures, the biometric entrance/exit system (EES) will record fingerprints, facial scans and travel details of all non-EU citizens when entering or leaving the Schengen zone. The EU’s new enrollment/exit system (EES) applies to 29 countries in the Schengen area. How will the entrance/exit system (EES) work? Europe’s Schengen zone is an area consisting of 25 EU members and four non-EU countries-which guarantee freedom of movement without internal border investigations. The EES is a digital border control system that will watch the citizens who are not the EU, or travelers who enter and leave the Schengen zone. The Schengen area includes all EU member states, apart from Ireland and Cyprus, but including Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Non-EU citizens will have to register their personal details when they first enter the Schengen area. File Photo: A Man Operates An Automated Ees Kiosk during a Demonstration of the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) at the Eurotunnel Terminal in Folkestone, Britain, September 23, 2025. Reuters/Jack Taylor/File Photo ACCIDING TO AL JAZEERA, NON -EEU travellers Entering Any of the Schengen countries will be required to go through an immigration booth or service kiosk – where their details include – names, nationality, facial image and fingerprints – will be taken digitally. Who is a non-EU citizen? A non-EU traveler is someone who does not have the EU nationality or the nationality of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. Why the EES? The move is aimed at detecting excessive, tackling identity fraud and preventing illegal migration amid political pressure in some EU countries to take a more difficult stance, Reuters reports. “The entry/exit system is the digital backbone of our new common European migration and asylum framework,” the European Commissioner of Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, said in a statement. “Every third country arriving at an external border will undergo identity verification, security examination and registration in the EU databases,” Brunner said. Apply the EES for us, Canada citizens? Citizens from the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and others who usually do not need a visa for short stay in the Schengen zone will also be subject to EES, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
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