Less than two weeks after the European Union switched on the new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES), Italy is feeling the strain. From the early-morning wave at Rome-Fiumicino to late-evening arrivals at Milan-Malpensa, passport halls have turned into bottlenecks as border officers juggle manual stamping and the newly mandated fingerprint-and-facial-scan kiosks. The EES, which became fully operational for short-stay travellers on 10 April, replaces passport stamps with a centralised database that records every entry and exit by non-EU nationals. In theory, foreign residents of Italy who hold a valid permesso di soggiorno card are exempt from EES registration. In practice, many are still being funnelled into the slower “All Passports” queues because e-gates cannot read their residence permits. Several travellers have reported being mistakenly entered in the system as short-stay visitors, raising the risk that future trips could trigger over-stay alerts.
![Italy Implements EU Entry/Exit System, Long Queues Reported at Major Airports]()
If you’re unsure how the EES might affect your status, VisaHQ can guide you through the latest Italian border rules and documentation requirements. Their specialists keep real-time tabs on policy changes and can help you determine whether you need additional paperwork—or how to correct an erroneous EES entry—before you travel. Visit https://www.visahq.com/italy/ for tailored assistance.
Airlines and airport operators have asked the Interior Ministry for temporary waivers to ease peak-hour congestion, a flexibility the EU regulation allows during exceptional circumstances. Business-travel managers are already rewriting travel-day playbooks: allowing an extra 60-90 minutes on arrival, advising staff to carry physical residence cards alongside digital copies, and keeping boarding passes as proof when missed connections lead to rebooking claims. The American Chamber of Commerce in Italy warns that repeated delays could erode Milan’s attractiveness as a post-Brexit finance hub if corporate flyers continue to miss meetings. For now, the Polizia di Frontiera has redeployed additional officers to Rome, Milan, Venice and Bologna and issued guidance that residents may ask to see a supervisor if they are incorrectly logged. Travellers should expect teething problems to linger through the busy Liberation Day and summer-holiday peaks. The Interior Ministry says it will review data weekly and does not rule out invoking the “exceptional circumstances” clause to scale back EES checks temporarily if queue times exceed 60 minutes.
If you’re unsure how the EES might affect your status, VisaHQ can guide you through the latest Italian border rules and documentation requirements. Their specialists keep real-time tabs on policy changes and can help you determine whether you need additional paperwork—or how to correct an erroneous EES entry—before you travel. Visit https://www.visahq.com/italy/ for tailored assistance.
Airlines and airport operators have asked the Interior Ministry for temporary waivers to ease peak-hour congestion, a flexibility the EU regulation allows during exceptional circumstances. Business-travel managers are already rewriting travel-day playbooks: allowing an extra 60-90 minutes on arrival, advising staff to carry physical residence cards alongside digital copies, and keeping boarding passes as proof when missed connections lead to rebooking claims. The American Chamber of Commerce in Italy warns that repeated delays could erode Milan’s attractiveness as a post-Brexit finance hub if corporate flyers continue to miss meetings. For now, the Polizia di Frontiera has redeployed additional officers to Rome, Milan, Venice and Bologna and issued guidance that residents may ask to see a supervisor if they are incorrectly logged. Travellers should expect teething problems to linger through the busy Liberation Day and summer-holiday peaks. The Interior Ministry says it will review data weekly and does not rule out invoking the “exceptional circumstances” clause to scale back EES checks temporarily if queue times exceed 60 minutes.
