Airports across Europe reported chaotic scenes on 19 December 2025 as the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) repeatedly crashed, producing queues of up to three hours for non-EU nationals. Although still in a limited 10 % live-testing phase, the biometric system—rolled out on 12 October—has exposed infrastructure gaps at many Schengen airports. The Airports Council International (ACI) warned that processing times have increased by as much as 70 %.
For Poland-based business travellers the impact is two-fold. First, Polish airports processing arriving third-country nationals (e.g., employees’ dependants with Ukrainian or UK passports) must manually divert passengers when kiosks fail, slowing overall flows at Warsaw Chopin and Kraków Balice. Second, staff departing Poland face long waits at hub airports such as Frankfurt, Paris CDG and Madrid when connecting to long-haul flights.
EU officials admit that only 1 in 10 passengers is currently asked to enrol biometrics, but this will rise to 35 % by 9 January 2026 and 100 % by April—raising fears of system meltdown during the Easter travel peak. Contingency plans under discussion include temporarily suspending EES during the Christmas rush or adding mobile enrolment teams in arrival halls.
![EU Entry/Exit System glitches trigger three-hour queues—Polish travellers urged to budget extra time]()
Corporate mobility teams are advising travellers to arrive at least four hours before departure when transiting major hubs and to schedule sensitive business meetings a day after arrival to absorb potential delays. Employers should also check whether assignees’ passports have sufficient blank pages; under EES, passports will no longer be stamped, but carriers report that border guards still request manual stamps when kiosks go offline.
If the evolving border regime feels overwhelming, Poland-based firms can offload much of the administrative burden to VisaHQ. The company’s dedicated Poland portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) centralises visa procurement, passport renewals and travel-document compliance, allowing mobility managers to track multiple applications in real time and receive alerts on Schengen policy updates—an invaluable safeguard while the EES rollout remains unpredictable.
In the medium term EES promises faster, paperless crossings, but until reliability improves, Polish companies must budget for longer layovers, higher hotel costs and possible missed connections—particularly for UK, US and Asian assignees who fall under the new biometric-enrolment rules.
For Poland-based business travellers the impact is two-fold. First, Polish airports processing arriving third-country nationals (e.g., employees’ dependants with Ukrainian or UK passports) must manually divert passengers when kiosks fail, slowing overall flows at Warsaw Chopin and Kraków Balice. Second, staff departing Poland face long waits at hub airports such as Frankfurt, Paris CDG and Madrid when connecting to long-haul flights.
EU officials admit that only 1 in 10 passengers is currently asked to enrol biometrics, but this will rise to 35 % by 9 January 2026 and 100 % by April—raising fears of system meltdown during the Easter travel peak. Contingency plans under discussion include temporarily suspending EES during the Christmas rush or adding mobile enrolment teams in arrival halls.
Corporate mobility teams are advising travellers to arrive at least four hours before departure when transiting major hubs and to schedule sensitive business meetings a day after arrival to absorb potential delays. Employers should also check whether assignees’ passports have sufficient blank pages; under EES, passports will no longer be stamped, but carriers report that border guards still request manual stamps when kiosks go offline.
If the evolving border regime feels overwhelming, Poland-based firms can offload much of the administrative burden to VisaHQ. The company’s dedicated Poland portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) centralises visa procurement, passport renewals and travel-document compliance, allowing mobility managers to track multiple applications in real time and receive alerts on Schengen policy updates—an invaluable safeguard while the EES rollout remains unpredictable.
In the medium term EES promises faster, paperless crossings, but until reliability improves, Polish companies must budget for longer layovers, higher hotel costs and possible missed connections—particularly for UK, US and Asian assignees who fall under the new biometric-enrolment rules.
