Just six months after Spain switched on the EU’s new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) at Madrid-Barajas, Brussels has quietly pushed back the deadline for full implementation. The European Commission confirmed on 2 February 2026 that member-states now have until September—not April—to complete the rollout, citing "potential summer travel chaos" if the original timetable were maintained.
The EES, live in pilot mode since October 2025, records face and fingerprint biometrics as well as time-stamps for every non-EU traveller. Designed to replace passport stamps and detect overstays, the system has struggled during scale-up. Airports including Málaga-Costa del Sol and Barcelona-El Prat reported processing times up by 70 per cent at peak periods; Lisbon Airport even suspended EES kiosks after wait times hit seven hours. Industry body ACI Europe warned of “serious safety hazards” if queues spill into air-side areas this summer.
For Spain, the delay is a mixed blessing. AENA has already installed more than 1,200 kiosks, but some smaller airports and ferry ports were lagging behind the April deadline. They now gain five extra months to recruit staff, run stress-tests and fine-tune software integrations with the Policía Nacional’s border-control platform. Carriers serving Spain’s busy UK and US markets also get breathing room: airlines must update check-in systems to verify whether passengers have completed first-time biometric enrolment before boarding, a feature that has proven glitch-prone.
![EU postpones full Entry/Exit System rollout to September 2026 amid congestion fears]()
Travellers who prefer a single, up-to-date source for entry rules can use VisaHQ’s Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) to monitor the changing EES rollout and receive alerts the moment ETIAS applications open. The platform walks users through document requirements, schedules biometrics appointments where needed, and keeps corporate travel managers informed of any policy tweaks affecting their employees.
Travellers should expect a patchwork experience through the summer of 2026. Some Spanish airports will continue to use EES kiosks, while others revert to manual stamping during peak surges—a “hybrid model” the Commission now explicitly permits. Business-travel managers are advised to brief employees to allow additional time at passport control and to retain boarding passes in case of onward connections within Schengen.
Strategically, the postponement also pushes back the subsequent ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme, which can only become mandatory after EES is fully operational. That means visa-exempt visitors to Spain will not need to apply for ETIAS until at least April 2027, giving corporates more time to integrate ETIAS checks into travel-booking workflows.
The EES, live in pilot mode since October 2025, records face and fingerprint biometrics as well as time-stamps for every non-EU traveller. Designed to replace passport stamps and detect overstays, the system has struggled during scale-up. Airports including Málaga-Costa del Sol and Barcelona-El Prat reported processing times up by 70 per cent at peak periods; Lisbon Airport even suspended EES kiosks after wait times hit seven hours. Industry body ACI Europe warned of “serious safety hazards” if queues spill into air-side areas this summer.
For Spain, the delay is a mixed blessing. AENA has already installed more than 1,200 kiosks, but some smaller airports and ferry ports were lagging behind the April deadline. They now gain five extra months to recruit staff, run stress-tests and fine-tune software integrations with the Policía Nacional’s border-control platform. Carriers serving Spain’s busy UK and US markets also get breathing room: airlines must update check-in systems to verify whether passengers have completed first-time biometric enrolment before boarding, a feature that has proven glitch-prone.
Travellers who prefer a single, up-to-date source for entry rules can use VisaHQ’s Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) to monitor the changing EES rollout and receive alerts the moment ETIAS applications open. The platform walks users through document requirements, schedules biometrics appointments where needed, and keeps corporate travel managers informed of any policy tweaks affecting their employees.
Travellers should expect a patchwork experience through the summer of 2026. Some Spanish airports will continue to use EES kiosks, while others revert to manual stamping during peak surges—a “hybrid model” the Commission now explicitly permits. Business-travel managers are advised to brief employees to allow additional time at passport control and to retain boarding passes in case of onward connections within Schengen.
Strategically, the postponement also pushes back the subsequent ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme, which can only become mandatory after EES is fully operational. That means visa-exempt visitors to Spain will not need to apply for ETIAS until at least April 2027, giving corporates more time to integrate ETIAS checks into travel-booking workflows.
