Just four months after France began enrolling third-country nationals into the EU’s Entry-Exit System, technology journal Identity Week reports ‘huge queues’ at several French airports—even though the country is still operating the system at only one-third capacity. At peak times last weekend, passengers at Orly and Nice reported two-hour waits as officials struggled with fingerprint scanners that needed to be cleaned between users and cameras that could not capture clear images in bright sunlight.
The European Commission has now paused the obligation to scale up to 50 % of passengers until September, acknowledging integration problems and staffing gaps. Paris airports have drafted 200 extra seasonal agents to guide travellers through kiosks, but trade unions say that is “a drop in the ocean” compared with the 600 officers they lost to retirement over the past decade.
Logistics providers fear knock-on effects for air-cargo flows timed to tight delivery windows. “If crew have to stand in the same lines as tourists, you lose your departure slot and the whole rotation unravels,” an Air France dispatcher told Identity Week.
![Long Queues Already Forming at Only 35 % of French EES Roll-out]()
Amid these uncertainties, VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) can simplify the administrative side of your trip. The platform offers up-to-date guidance on EES requirements, Schengen visa rules, and airport procedures, and its specialists can pre-check documentation so that travellers spend less time at the border and more time on business.
Mobility advisers are recommending that HR teams send step-by-step EES guides to business travellers, emphasising that once a traveller is enrolled, subsequent trips require only a quick identity check. They also note that French residence-permit holders are temporarily excluded from e-gates, so expatriate staff should be prepared for manual lanes.
The government insists the teething problems are temporary and points to the system’s long-term security benefits, but with the summer rush approaching, corporate travel managers will need robust contingency plans.
The European Commission has now paused the obligation to scale up to 50 % of passengers until September, acknowledging integration problems and staffing gaps. Paris airports have drafted 200 extra seasonal agents to guide travellers through kiosks, but trade unions say that is “a drop in the ocean” compared with the 600 officers they lost to retirement over the past decade.
Logistics providers fear knock-on effects for air-cargo flows timed to tight delivery windows. “If crew have to stand in the same lines as tourists, you lose your departure slot and the whole rotation unravels,” an Air France dispatcher told Identity Week.
Amid these uncertainties, VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) can simplify the administrative side of your trip. The platform offers up-to-date guidance on EES requirements, Schengen visa rules, and airport procedures, and its specialists can pre-check documentation so that travellers spend less time at the border and more time on business.
Mobility advisers are recommending that HR teams send step-by-step EES guides to business travellers, emphasising that once a traveller is enrolled, subsequent trips require only a quick identity check. They also note that French residence-permit holders are temporarily excluded from e-gates, so expatriate staff should be prepared for manual lanes.
The government insists the teething problems are temporary and points to the system’s long-term security benefits, but with the summer rush approaching, corporate travel managers will need robust contingency plans.
