Just three days after France activated the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) at roughly half of its external border points—including the juxtaposed French controls in Dover, Folkestone and London St Pancras—travel bodies are warning of airport-style queues. Border-police union SNCP-PAF says almost 200 kiosks are live, and first-time enrolment (passport scan, fingerprints and face capture) averages two minutes—six times longer than the manual stamp it replaces. (visahq.com)
ABTA has told tour operators to add at least 45 minutes to coach timetables for February’s ski peak, while the Port of Dover calculates that every extra minute of processing time adds 380 vehicle-minutes to the A-20 departure lanes. Multinationals shuttling staff between Paris and London are already extending meeting buffers and advising travellers to carry printed invitations in case of spot checks. (visahq.com)
![Biometric EES Roll-Out Sparks Queue Warnings at French Border Posts]()
Travel coordinators looking for practical support in this new landscape can tap VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), which consolidates biometric guidance, real-time visa rules and 90/180-day calculators in one place—helping companies predict EES impacts before their teams reach the border.
For mobility managers, the immediate pain point is predictability: missed Eurostar connections cascade into missed TGV or domestic flights. HR teams should also update 90/180-day tracking tools—once the EES is fully deployed on 10 April 2026 it will automatically calculate overstays, leaving no margin for error.
Aéroports de Paris has redeployed staff to help non-EU passengers at Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly and is piloting a priority lane for premium corporate travellers. The Interior Ministry will decide in March whether to keep dual running (manual stamp plus EES) during the busy Easter period.
ABTA has told tour operators to add at least 45 minutes to coach timetables for February’s ski peak, while the Port of Dover calculates that every extra minute of processing time adds 380 vehicle-minutes to the A-20 departure lanes. Multinationals shuttling staff between Paris and London are already extending meeting buffers and advising travellers to carry printed invitations in case of spot checks. (visahq.com)
Travel coordinators looking for practical support in this new landscape can tap VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), which consolidates biometric guidance, real-time visa rules and 90/180-day calculators in one place—helping companies predict EES impacts before their teams reach the border.
For mobility managers, the immediate pain point is predictability: missed Eurostar connections cascade into missed TGV or domestic flights. HR teams should also update 90/180-day tracking tools—once the EES is fully deployed on 10 April 2026 it will automatically calculate overstays, leaving no margin for error.
Aéroports de Paris has redeployed staff to help non-EU passengers at Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly and is piloting a priority lane for premium corporate travellers. The Interior Ministry will decide in March whether to keep dual running (manual stamp plus EES) during the busy Easter period.
