Austria is a step closer to paper-free border crossings after the EU Council adopted its negotiating position on the new Regulation for Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) on 19 November 2025. Once the law is finalised, third-country nationals (and eventually EU citizens) will be able to store a secure, ICAO-compliant copy of their passport in an official smartphone wallet. Travellers could then pre-submit their data to the Entry/Exit System (EES), scan a QR code at e-gates and breeze through immigration without a physical passport stamp.
For Vienna International Airport (VIE) the timing is fortuitous. Since the EES went live in October, peak-morning queues for non-EU arrivals have stretched beyond the roped lanes, prompting the airport to redeploy staff from security to immigration. A digital credential that lets passengers complete formalities before landing would cut handling times by an estimated 30-40 seconds per traveller, according to Austrian border-police union estimates. That translates into roughly five extra wide-body flights being processed per hour at current staffing levels.
![EU Council Backs Digital Travel Credentials, Paving the Way for Seamless Border Checks in Austria]()
Corporate mobility managers are watching closely. Multinationals such as OMV and Siemens Austria report that executives now schedule buffer time between landing and meetings because of EES biometrics. “If DTC eliminates the manual passport scan, we recover at least half an hour on every long-haul trip,” said Katharina Lechner, global mobility lead at OMV. Travel-management companies expect a surge in last-minute bookings once the system proves reliable, boosting Austria’s appeal as a regional hub.
The proposal also dovetails with the EU’s plan to connect DTCs to ETIAS visa waivers and even Schengen short-stay visas. Austrian consulates would issue a secure digital visa that is automatically linked to the traveller’s credential, reducing fraud and courier costs. The Interior Ministry in Vienna confirmed that development work on the national DTC back-end will begin in early 2026, funded partly by the EU’s Integrated Border Management Facility.
Next steps: the Council will open trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament in December. If agreement is reached by mid-2026, pilot roll-outs could start at selected airports—including Vienna—by late 2026. Businesses should review their travel-policy language now to include guidance on digital credentials, device security and data-protection obligations.
For Vienna International Airport (VIE) the timing is fortuitous. Since the EES went live in October, peak-morning queues for non-EU arrivals have stretched beyond the roped lanes, prompting the airport to redeploy staff from security to immigration. A digital credential that lets passengers complete formalities before landing would cut handling times by an estimated 30-40 seconds per traveller, according to Austrian border-police union estimates. That translates into roughly five extra wide-body flights being processed per hour at current staffing levels.
Corporate mobility managers are watching closely. Multinationals such as OMV and Siemens Austria report that executives now schedule buffer time between landing and meetings because of EES biometrics. “If DTC eliminates the manual passport scan, we recover at least half an hour on every long-haul trip,” said Katharina Lechner, global mobility lead at OMV. Travel-management companies expect a surge in last-minute bookings once the system proves reliable, boosting Austria’s appeal as a regional hub.
The proposal also dovetails with the EU’s plan to connect DTCs to ETIAS visa waivers and even Schengen short-stay visas. Austrian consulates would issue a secure digital visa that is automatically linked to the traveller’s credential, reducing fraud and courier costs. The Interior Ministry in Vienna confirmed that development work on the national DTC back-end will begin in early 2026, funded partly by the EU’s Integrated Border Management Facility.
Next steps: the Council will open trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament in December. If agreement is reached by mid-2026, pilot roll-outs could start at selected airports—including Vienna—by late 2026. Businesses should review their travel-policy language now to include guidance on digital credentials, device security and data-protection obligations.
