Less than 72 hours after the European Union finally pressed the ‘go’ button on its €1.3 billion biometric Entry/Exit System (EES), France’s main international gateways have become the emblem of everything that can go wrong when a major border-technology project meets peak travel season. At Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly, automated kiosks crashed repeatedly over the weekend of 11-12 April, forcing Police aux Frontières officers to revert to the very manual passport-stamping routine the EES was meant to consign to history. Eurostar’s London–Paris route and the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone reported similar scenes, with some passengers waiting three hours only to watch their train depart without them. Airlines for Europe (A4E) and ACI Europe issued an unusually blunt joint statement on 14 April calling the roll-out a “systemic failure” and asking the European Commission to authorise the “full or partial suspension” of EES through the end of the summer. Under EES, every non-EU traveller must provide four fingerprints and a facial image the first time they enter Schengen after 10 April. The data are then matched to each subsequent entry or exit and automatically police the 90/180-day stay rule.
![‘Systemic failure’: EU’s new Entry/Exit System causes hours-long queues at French airports]()
For travellers who want additional peace of mind before they head to France, VisaHQ’s dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) consolidates the latest EES updates, Schengen entry rules and visa requirements in one place, and can even arrange fast-track document services for those who need extra help navigating the new system.
Carriers had warned for months that enrolment would create bottlenecks unless Member States installed hundreds of additional kiosks or allowed off-airport pre-registration. For France, the stakes are particularly high. With the Summer Olympics opening in Paris on 24 July, airports are already under pressure to deliver seamless processing for millions of visitors, athletes and media crews. Group ADP, which manages the Paris airports, had lobbied Brussels unsuccessfully for a further postponement to autumn 2026. Instead, staff are now triaging travellers: biometric capture is being switched off when queues top 45 minutes, and manual stamping has quietly made a comeback. Business-travel managers should advise assignees and frequent flyers to arrive at least four hours before departure, make sure passports are machine-readable and remain patient if they are asked to enrol again after a kiosk reboot. Companies moving talent into France this summer may also need to budget for missed connections, hotel costs and schedule buffers until the new system stabilises.
For travellers who want additional peace of mind before they head to France, VisaHQ’s dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) consolidates the latest EES updates, Schengen entry rules and visa requirements in one place, and can even arrange fast-track document services for those who need extra help navigating the new system.
Carriers had warned for months that enrolment would create bottlenecks unless Member States installed hundreds of additional kiosks or allowed off-airport pre-registration. For France, the stakes are particularly high. With the Summer Olympics opening in Paris on 24 July, airports are already under pressure to deliver seamless processing for millions of visitors, athletes and media crews. Group ADP, which manages the Paris airports, had lobbied Brussels unsuccessfully for a further postponement to autumn 2026. Instead, staff are now triaging travellers: biometric capture is being switched off when queues top 45 minutes, and manual stamping has quietly made a comeback. Business-travel managers should advise assignees and frequent flyers to arrive at least four hours before departure, make sure passports are machine-readable and remain patient if they are asked to enrol again after a kiosk reboot. Companies moving talent into France this summer may also need to budget for missed connections, hotel costs and schedule buffers until the new system stabilises.
