From the first early-morning arrivals on 17 November 2025, passport stamping at Zurich Airport became history. The airport switched on the European Union’s long-awaited Entry/Exit System (EES), completing Switzerland’s phased roll-out that began at Geneva and Basel in October. Travellers from outside the EU/Schengen area now enrol at self-service kiosks that capture a facial image and four fingerprints before proceeding to the e-gates. Their biometric template is stored for three years, creating an electronic record that automatically calculates remaining stay days and flags potential overstays to border guards.
For business travellers the change means a one-off registration that may add four to five minutes on the very first trip, but subsequent crossings should be faster than the old manual procedure. Flughafen Zürich AG has installed 32 registration kiosks and doubled staff during the soft-launch week to steer passengers through the new process. Signage in German, English, French and Mandarin, as well as pre-departure emails via airlines, form part of an information campaign designed to avoid first-day chaos.
![Zurich Airport Activates EU Entry/Exit System, Digitising Border Checks for Third-Country Nationals]()
Swiss authorities underline that the system only applies to short-stay visitors (maximum 90 days in any 180-day period). Holders of Swiss or EU residence permits, diplomatic legitimation cards or long-stay visas are exempt and should be channelled to staffed booths if the kiosk prompts them to enrol.
Companies moving staff across Europe should update their travel policies immediately: overstays will be calculated automatically across all 29 participating countries, eliminating the discretion that occasionally existed under manual passport stamping. Employers are advised to build in extra connection time at Zurich for the next few weeks, monitor kiosk queues via the airport’s API and remind travellers to keep their face uncovered for the biometric camera.
For business travellers the change means a one-off registration that may add four to five minutes on the very first trip, but subsequent crossings should be faster than the old manual procedure. Flughafen Zürich AG has installed 32 registration kiosks and doubled staff during the soft-launch week to steer passengers through the new process. Signage in German, English, French and Mandarin, as well as pre-departure emails via airlines, form part of an information campaign designed to avoid first-day chaos.
Swiss authorities underline that the system only applies to short-stay visitors (maximum 90 days in any 180-day period). Holders of Swiss or EU residence permits, diplomatic legitimation cards or long-stay visas are exempt and should be channelled to staffed booths if the kiosk prompts them to enrol.
Companies moving staff across Europe should update their travel policies immediately: overstays will be calculated automatically across all 29 participating countries, eliminating the discretion that occasionally existed under manual passport stamping. Employers are advised to build in extra connection time at Zurich for the next few weeks, monitor kiosk queues via the airport’s API and remind travellers to keep their face uncovered for the biometric camera.
