Biometric tests to enter the EU could take nine months to fully enforce

Biometric registration to visit the EU may not be fully enforced for another nine months, with border officials allowed to relax the rules to alleviate queues or chaos at ports when the system finally goes live.

- Gwyn Topham

In just over two weeks, Eurotunnel, Eurostar and the Port of Dover will open biometric registration kiosks in the UK, installed at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.

But the system will take effect on 12 October for only a minority of travellers, and full compliance will not be enforced until 12 April 2026.

Eurostar said there would also be an additional 90 days' grace period during which the entry-exit system (EES) can be scaled back, under the direction of French border authorities, in case of operational failures.

The much-delayed system requires all non-EU citizens to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering a country within the bloc. Their identifying features and information will be held on a central European database for three years.

The biometrics must be collected at the border under the supervision of immigration officers. Passengers flying to the EU will have the new checks on landing at EU airports.