Germany has become one of the first EU member states to switch on the bloc-wide Entry/Exit System (EES), launching the new biometric border platform at Munich Airport on 11 November 2025. The Bundespolizei and airport operator FMG switched several passport control lanes to EES kiosks that automatically record travellers’ fingerprints, facial images and travel document data. Until now, German officers stamped third-country passports by hand; the new system stores the information centrally in a Schengen database, calculating each traveller’s authorised days of stay and flagging overstays in real time.
Background & timetable
EES is the flagship IT pillar of the EU’s 2017 Smart Borders package. After repeated delays linked to COVID-19, supply-chain bottlenecks and software integration, the Council set a hard go-live window for October – December 2025. Munich is one of five German pilot sites (the others are Frankfurt, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg) that will phase in the technology between now and March 2026 before nationwide roll-out at land borders. The €300-million German programme is coordinated by the Federal Police and the Federal Interior Ministry, with secunet, IDEMIA and dormakaba supplying hardware and middleware.
![Germany rolls out EU Entry/Exit System at Munich Airport]()
What passengers will notice
During the transition, non-EU nationals arriving in Munich are being funnelled to self-service kiosks where they scan their passport, place four fingers on a reader and look at a camera. The process takes 45-60 seconds for first-time users and under 20 seconds on subsequent trips. EU citizens and holders of German residence permits will continue to use e-gates or the manual EU/EEA lane. Signage in German, English, Arabic and Mandarin, plus roving “EES guides”, are intended to mitigate confusion, but the Bundespolizei warns of possible bottlenecks at peak times until travellers familiarise themselves with the new steps.
Why it matters for global mobility teams
1. Visa-free business travellers from the US, UK, Canada and other third countries will now have every entry and exit clocked automatically. Companies should remind frequent travellers that the 90/180-day Schengen limit will be enforced to the day, with overstay alerts passed instantly to the police desk.
2. Successful enrolment in EES is a prerequisite for the EU’s ETIAS travel authorisation, scheduled for Q4 2026. Mobility managers should start updating pre-trip briefings and immigration policies to include EES and ETIAS steps.
3. Biometric compliance adds a privacy dimension. German data-protection law requires employers to inform assignees and business travellers how their personal and biometric data will be processed when they pass through German borders.
Looking ahead
The Interior Ministry says lessons learned at Munich will feed into staffing models for Frankfurt and the busy land crossings to Switzerland and Austria. A public information campaign will run on social media and in Lufthansa’s in-flight magazine from December. While industry groups welcome the security upgrade, they urge Berlin to assign enough officers during the overlap period when both manual and automated systems run in parallel.
Background & timetable
EES is the flagship IT pillar of the EU’s 2017 Smart Borders package. After repeated delays linked to COVID-19, supply-chain bottlenecks and software integration, the Council set a hard go-live window for October – December 2025. Munich is one of five German pilot sites (the others are Frankfurt, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg) that will phase in the technology between now and March 2026 before nationwide roll-out at land borders. The €300-million German programme is coordinated by the Federal Police and the Federal Interior Ministry, with secunet, IDEMIA and dormakaba supplying hardware and middleware.
What passengers will notice
During the transition, non-EU nationals arriving in Munich are being funnelled to self-service kiosks where they scan their passport, place four fingers on a reader and look at a camera. The process takes 45-60 seconds for first-time users and under 20 seconds on subsequent trips. EU citizens and holders of German residence permits will continue to use e-gates or the manual EU/EEA lane. Signage in German, English, Arabic and Mandarin, plus roving “EES guides”, are intended to mitigate confusion, but the Bundespolizei warns of possible bottlenecks at peak times until travellers familiarise themselves with the new steps.
Why it matters for global mobility teams
1. Visa-free business travellers from the US, UK, Canada and other third countries will now have every entry and exit clocked automatically. Companies should remind frequent travellers that the 90/180-day Schengen limit will be enforced to the day, with overstay alerts passed instantly to the police desk.
2. Successful enrolment in EES is a prerequisite for the EU’s ETIAS travel authorisation, scheduled for Q4 2026. Mobility managers should start updating pre-trip briefings and immigration policies to include EES and ETIAS steps.
3. Biometric compliance adds a privacy dimension. German data-protection law requires employers to inform assignees and business travellers how their personal and biometric data will be processed when they pass through German borders.
Looking ahead
The Interior Ministry says lessons learned at Munich will feed into staffing models for Frankfurt and the busy land crossings to Switzerland and Austria. A public information campaign will run on social media and in Lufthansa’s in-flight magazine from December. While industry groups welcome the security upgrade, they urge Berlin to assign enough officers during the overlap period when both manual and automated systems run in parallel.
