Germany has announced a phased introduction of the European Union’s new entry-exit system (EES), applying the measures to just one airport in the first instance, in an effort to minimise negative impacts.
“The EES will first go into operation at Düsseldorf airport on 12 October 2025,” the Federal Ministry of the Interior said, adding: “Frankfurt and Munich airports will follow in a next step, after which the EES will gradually be introduced at all of Germany’s other airports as well as its ports at maritime external borders.”
Update for non-EU nationals travelling to 29 European countries for short stays!
— EU Home Affairs (@EUHomeAffairs) September 20, 2025
Once it goes live on 12 October, the Entry/Exit System will gradually record:
🔸arrival/departure dates
🔸travel document and biometric data
In line with EU data protection rules ↓ #TravelToEurope
Authorities said the country would “ramp up operations in a controlled way to ensure that border control processes keep running smoothly at all times. This guarantees security while also providing the flexibility to respond to any technical issues that may arise.” This is in line with recent European Commission commentary noting that the new system would roll out over six months across the bloc.
The gradual introduction means that “technical challenges in operations will be identified at an early stage so that compensatory measures can be taken if air or ship passengers from third countries experience unreasonable waits,” the press release said. According to reporting in The Independent, border officials will have the leeway to allow up to 90% of travellers to “swerve” EES controls to avoid the build-up of unreasonable queues.
Europe changes Schengen entry rules starting October 2025
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 12, 2025
From October 12, 2025, the Schengen Area will introduce a new Entry/Exit System (EES) that replaces passport stamps with digital registration.
The European Union explains these changes as necessary to strengthen security… pic.twitter.com/RTEEK5MnLv
Although the EES will see the collection of digital and biometric data on non-EU or “third country” travellers entering and exiting the zone, thus replacing “current analogue stamping of travel documents with the digital recording of entry and exit data,” German officials will continue to physically check and stamp passports until the rollout phase is complete. However, by 9 April 2026, the deadline set by EU legislators, “Germany will have the system in full operation at all its external air and sea borders.”
As well as making border security processes more efficient by eliminating paperwork, the benefits of the new system, according to officials, include strengthened security at the EU’s external borders, improved identity checks and barriers to fraud, and improved tracking of visitors to the Schengen area and oversight of the length of their stay.
For third-country nationals accustomed to relatively seamless travel to their neighbours, such as the United Kingdom (which voted to become a so-called “third country” when it chose to leave the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum), the EES brings a new layer of checks and data storage.
