The European Commission marked the progressive roll-out of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) on 2 December 2025, highlighting ongoing deployments at air, land and sea borders—including major German crossings overseen by the Bundespolizei.
EES records every non-EU traveller’s arrivals and departures and replaces passport stamps with a biometric scan of fingerprints and facial image. German officials say the system, live at Frankfurt and Munich airports since October, has already cut average border-control transaction times by 30 % during off-peak hours. The database will automatically flag overstays—an issue that complicates German companies’ audit trails when hosting clients or short-term assignees.
![EU Entry/Exit System enters next phase; German Federal Police accelerate biometric roll-out]()
By April 2026 EES will be mandatory across all German border points, and from mid-2026 travellers will link their digital record directly to ETIAS authorisations and Schengen visa applications. Companies should therefore review internal travel-tracking tools to ensure they capture passport-number changes and biometrics consent, while assignees should be briefed on the new self-service kiosks to avoid queues.
Law-firm observers note that data-privacy compliance remains a live discussion in Germany, where stringent federal and Länder regulations may require additional information notices for staff and visitors. Still, corporate mobility teams can expect longer lead-in transparency on stay calculations—helpful when switching staff from business-visitor status to longer work permits.
EES records every non-EU traveller’s arrivals and departures and replaces passport stamps with a biometric scan of fingerprints and facial image. German officials say the system, live at Frankfurt and Munich airports since October, has already cut average border-control transaction times by 30 % during off-peak hours. The database will automatically flag overstays—an issue that complicates German companies’ audit trails when hosting clients or short-term assignees.
By April 2026 EES will be mandatory across all German border points, and from mid-2026 travellers will link their digital record directly to ETIAS authorisations and Schengen visa applications. Companies should therefore review internal travel-tracking tools to ensure they capture passport-number changes and biometrics consent, while assignees should be briefed on the new self-service kiosks to avoid queues.
Law-firm observers note that data-privacy compliance remains a live discussion in Germany, where stringent federal and Länder regulations may require additional information notices for staff and visitors. Still, corporate mobility teams can expect longer lead-in transparency on stay calculations—helpful when switching staff from business-visitor status to longer work permits.
