EU entry-exit system: 'Just run that past me again ...'

As you will know if you have been following the saga of the EU entry-exit system: more and more British travellers are becoming subject to the digital borders scheme for the Schengen area, which is due to be complete by 9 April.

- Simon Calder, The Independent

As that deadline approaches, more concerns are being raised by readers. Over the past few days I have been snowed under with questions about the EU entry-exit system. I have answered a fair spread of the main concerns and selected a few common questions below.

Those of us who have registered still have to wait in the massive queues at European borders! We are registered, where is the quick entry system? Kristen Covo

Wouldn’t it be marvellous to imagine that there is a separate queue for people who have passed the test and had their fingerprints and facial biometrics registered? However, that was never part of the plan. The only difference is that, after you join the long queue for biometric registration, you will not have to do the fingerprint part — just the facial biometric.

There is a widely held misapprehension that, having gone through biometric registration once, you are qualified to use e-gates in future. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. The entry-exit system registration is entirely a European Union enterprise, while the system for admitting third-country nationals is down to each member state.