Holiday-season travellers arriving at Geneva Airport on 19 December faced queues of up to four hours as border officers struggled with the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System (EES). The biometric system, introduced at Swiss external airports in October and currently enrolling 10 % of non-EU arrivals, requires first-time visitors to provide fingerprints and facial images. Technical glitches and a shortage of staffed kiosks pushed processing times 70 % higher than normal.
Geneva authorities temporarily disabled parts of the system mid-afternoon to avoid crowd-control hazards, while Airports Council International (ACI) warned the EU that a full roll-out planned for April 2026 could create “serious safety risks” if performance does not improve. The airport, a gateway for Alpine ski resorts, expects passenger volumes to peak again between Christmas and New Year.
![EU Entry/Exit System Sparks Four-Hour Queues at Geneva Airport]()
To help travellers avoid additional headaches, VisaHQ offers an online platform that streamlines Switzerland’s visa and travel-document requirements, letting passengers check entry rules, complete applications and arrange courier services before departure. Using https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/ to handle paperwork in advance can shorten overall border time and complement the EES’s promise of faster repeat crossings.
Business travellers should anticipate sporadic delays until enrolment rates climb and recommend scheduling meetings with buffer times. Companies moving expatriates are advised to remind staff that once biometric data are captured, subsequent crossings should be faster, but initial registration can take 15-25 minutes per person.
Swiss border police said they are adding mobile enrolment units and will prioritise families with small children to ease congestion.
Geneva authorities temporarily disabled parts of the system mid-afternoon to avoid crowd-control hazards, while Airports Council International (ACI) warned the EU that a full roll-out planned for April 2026 could create “serious safety risks” if performance does not improve. The airport, a gateway for Alpine ski resorts, expects passenger volumes to peak again between Christmas and New Year.
To help travellers avoid additional headaches, VisaHQ offers an online platform that streamlines Switzerland’s visa and travel-document requirements, letting passengers check entry rules, complete applications and arrange courier services before departure. Using https://www.visahq.com/switzerland/ to handle paperwork in advance can shorten overall border time and complement the EES’s promise of faster repeat crossings.
Business travellers should anticipate sporadic delays until enrolment rates climb and recommend scheduling meetings with buffer times. Companies moving expatriates are advised to remind staff that once biometric data are captured, subsequent crossings should be faster, but initial registration can take 15-25 minutes per person.
Swiss border police said they are adding mobile enrolment units and will prioritise families with small children to ease congestion.
