Poland confirms readiness for EU Entry/Exit System roll-out

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński visited Warsaw Chopin Airport on 26 October to inspect final tests of the EU’s new automated Entry/Exit System (EES), scheduled to go live across the Schengen Area later this month. Poland is among the first member states to certify full compliance, integrating biometric kiosks at 14 air and land crossings.

The EES will replace manual passport stamping for third-country nationals with facial-recognition and fingerprint checks, automatically calculating permitted stays and flagging overstays to Frontex. For corporate mobility teams the system promises faster clearance times—pilot runs at Chopin show average processing of 42 seconds per traveller—but also stricter enforcement of 90/180-day limits. HR departments are urged to audit the travel histories of frequent business visitors from the US, India and the Gulf to avoid inadvertent overstays now that data is centralised.

Border Guard officials emphasise that travellers enrolled in Poland’s ABC Gate programme will see a seamless experience, but carrier-side compliance (i.e., API data quality) remains critical. Airlines that fail to transmit complete passenger manifests risk fines up to PLN 30,000 per flight leg.

Implementation of EES is a prerequisite for the delayed European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), expected in 2026.