Spain has become the first large Schengen country to publish a detailed roadmap for the full roll-out of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) and the linked ETIAS travel authorisation. In a briefing released on 11 December and confirmed on 12 December, the Interior Ministry said that biometric kiosks were quietly piloted at Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat on 12 October. During the pilot, non-EU travellers enrolled fingerprints and facial data while officers tested data-sharing links with the central EU database.
Under the plan, all Spanish airports, seaports and the Gibraltar land frontier will switch from passport stamping to automated biometric clearance no later than 30 April 2026. The system will capture a traveller’s first entry and reuse that digital template for subsequent crossings, cutting manual checks and tightening over-stay detection. Airlines and ground-handling agents are being told to adapt check-in software so that boarding passes cannot be issued unless an ETIAS approval—costing €20 and valid for three years—is confirmed in the back-end.
For corporate mobility teams the new regime is a double-edged sword. Once initial enrolment is out of the way, queues should shorten dramatically and passports will suffer less wear-and-tear. But companies must brief business travellers on the one-time biometric capture, update privacy notices and budget for the extra €20 ETIAS fee for every visa-exempt employee, contractor or intern who enters Spain. Airlines risk fines of up to €5,000 per passenger if they carry anyone without an ETIAS approval once the system is live.
![Spain Sets April 2026 Deadline for Biometric ‘Digital Borders’ After Completing EES Soft-Launch]()
Companies and individual travellers who want an easy way to stay compliant can turn to VisaHQ. The platform continuously tracks EES and ETIAS developments, offers Spain-specific guidance and can process single or bulk applications through a simple online dashboard—freeing up mobility teams and travellers alike. Full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/spain/.
Border-technology suppliers are already benefiting: airport operator Aena has ordered hundreds of additional e-gates, and police unions are negotiating staffing models that pair officers with biometric corridors. Tourism officials are pitching the project as a post-pandemic upgrade that will make Spain a ‘friction-free’ destination, although consumer groups want a multilingual information campaign well before the busy 2026 summer season.
The shift to digital borders also marks another step away from Spain’s property-based ‘golden visa’, which was abolished earlier in 2025. Officials say the focus is now on skills-based immigration and secure, data-driven border controls that give authorities a clearer picture of who is in the country—and for how long.
Under the plan, all Spanish airports, seaports and the Gibraltar land frontier will switch from passport stamping to automated biometric clearance no later than 30 April 2026. The system will capture a traveller’s first entry and reuse that digital template for subsequent crossings, cutting manual checks and tightening over-stay detection. Airlines and ground-handling agents are being told to adapt check-in software so that boarding passes cannot be issued unless an ETIAS approval—costing €20 and valid for three years—is confirmed in the back-end.
For corporate mobility teams the new regime is a double-edged sword. Once initial enrolment is out of the way, queues should shorten dramatically and passports will suffer less wear-and-tear. But companies must brief business travellers on the one-time biometric capture, update privacy notices and budget for the extra €20 ETIAS fee for every visa-exempt employee, contractor or intern who enters Spain. Airlines risk fines of up to €5,000 per passenger if they carry anyone without an ETIAS approval once the system is live.
Companies and individual travellers who want an easy way to stay compliant can turn to VisaHQ. The platform continuously tracks EES and ETIAS developments, offers Spain-specific guidance and can process single or bulk applications through a simple online dashboard—freeing up mobility teams and travellers alike. Full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/spain/.
Border-technology suppliers are already benefiting: airport operator Aena has ordered hundreds of additional e-gates, and police unions are negotiating staffing models that pair officers with biometric corridors. Tourism officials are pitching the project as a post-pandemic upgrade that will make Spain a ‘friction-free’ destination, although consumer groups want a multilingual information campaign well before the busy 2026 summer season.
The shift to digital borders also marks another step away from Spain’s property-based ‘golden visa’, which was abolished earlier in 2025. Officials say the focus is now on skills-based immigration and secure, data-driven border controls that give authorities a clearer picture of who is in the country—and for how long.
