Belgian business travellers woke up to welcome news on 4 May 2026 after the European Commission authorised Schengen countries to suspend the mandatory fingerprint- and face-scan step of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) whenever queues spiral out of control. Since the EES went live on 10 April, Brussels Airport and the land borders at Zeebrugge and the Eurostar terminal in Brussels-Midi have reported wait times of 40-60 minutes for non-EU nationals. Airlines warned that missed connections were starting to dent on-time performance and trigger compensation claims under EU 261. Belgium joined France, the Netherlands and Germany in lobbying Brussels for an “emergency brake” before the Ascension Day and Pentecost getaway.
![EU grants member states—including Belgium—a temporary pause on biometric border checks to clear EES congestion]()
At this juncture, many companies are turning to specialists such as VisaHQ for real-time guidance on Schengen entry rules, contingency documentation and the upcoming ETIAS and digital visa requirements; the firm’s Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) offers up-to-the-minute alerts, personalised eligibility checks and managed services that can take the administrative weight off travel coordinators while the EES rollout stabilises.
The Commission’s decision allows border guards to revert to manual passport stamping during peak periods while keeping the EES database running in the background. For corporate mobility managers the ruling removes an immediate pain-point: travellers who have already accumulated close to 90 days in Schengen will still be registered in the EES back-office, but the physical bottleneck of the biometric kiosks should ease. Travel risk consultancies are advising employers to maintain the extra 30-minute buffer in itineraries until operational data confirm that queues are shrinking. Belgium’s Interior Ministry has already circulated an instruction to the federal police at Zaventem and the major seaports to implement the waiver “when the wait time for third-country nationals exceeds 25 minutes.” The ministry will report weekly to Brussels on utilisation so the Commission can decide when full biometric capture should resume. In parallel, the EU reiterated that the digital Schengen visa and the ETIAS travel authorisation remain on schedule for October 2026, meaning businesses still need to prepare staff databases and traveller communication plans well ahead of the next compliance milestone.
At this juncture, many companies are turning to specialists such as VisaHQ for real-time guidance on Schengen entry rules, contingency documentation and the upcoming ETIAS and digital visa requirements; the firm’s Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) offers up-to-the-minute alerts, personalised eligibility checks and managed services that can take the administrative weight off travel coordinators while the EES rollout stabilises.
The Commission’s decision allows border guards to revert to manual passport stamping during peak periods while keeping the EES database running in the background. For corporate mobility managers the ruling removes an immediate pain-point: travellers who have already accumulated close to 90 days in Schengen will still be registered in the EES back-office, but the physical bottleneck of the biometric kiosks should ease. Travel risk consultancies are advising employers to maintain the extra 30-minute buffer in itineraries until operational data confirm that queues are shrinking. Belgium’s Interior Ministry has already circulated an instruction to the federal police at Zaventem and the major seaports to implement the waiver “when the wait time for third-country nationals exceeds 25 minutes.” The ministry will report weekly to Brussels on utilisation so the Commission can decide when full biometric capture should resume. In parallel, the EU reiterated that the digital Schengen visa and the ETIAS travel authorisation remain on schedule for October 2026, meaning businesses still need to prepare staff databases and traveller communication plans well ahead of the next compliance milestone.
