Václav Havel Airport Prague has quietly taken a major step toward fully-digital border processing. At 17:05 on Friday, 16 May 2026, the airport switched on an expanded eGATE programme that allows eligible citizens of the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea to clear outgoing passport control through the same automated kiosks long used by EU, EEA and Swiss nationals. The change, confirmed by the Foreign Police Service and airport operator Prague Airport, comes six weeks after the EU-wide Entry/Exit System (EES) went live.
![Prague Airport opens eGATE automated passport control to travellers from the UK, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea]()
For travellers wondering whether their documents meet the latest biometric or visa criteria, VisaHQ can simplify the process. Its Czech Republic portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) offers instant eligibility checks, step-by-step application guidance and update alerts on forthcoming EES/ETIAS rules—helping both business and leisure visitors avoid last-minute surprises at Prague’s new eGATEs.
Until now, Prague’s 29 automated gates were restricted to travellers aged 15+ holding biometric passports from the EU/EEA or Switzerland. By adding four high-volume, visa-exempt markets—together accounting for roughly 650,000 passengers a year—the airport expects to shave at least 30 seconds off each manual inspection and redeploy officers to higher-risk secondary screening. Travellers must still meet the standard Schengen short-stay rules and the gates are currently available only on **departures to non-Schengen destinations**, where queues are traditionally longest. The Foreign Police say the timing was dictated by the April launch of EES. “We had to retune the software so every eGATE transaction also triggers the new biometric record in EES,” spokesperson Josef Urban explained. Over the past month the system has been stress-tested on empty lanes during off-peak hours, with average transaction times falling below 16 seconds. From a business-mobility perspective the expansion is particularly valuable. South Korea and Taiwan are fast-growing sources of semiconductor and battery-supply investment in Czechia, while the UK remains the country’s largest non-EU air market. Faster border processing should help airlines keep turn-around times tight during the summer schedule, when runway 06/24 is closed for refurbishment and all flights are funneled onto the shorter 12/30. Immigration lawyers advise affected companies to brief staff that **only biometric passports work** and to retain paper boarding passes until they exit security; eGATE receipts are not issued. The police also caution that random manual spot-checks will continue, so travellers should still allow sufficient buffer time. Nevertheless, corporate travel managers hail the move as another sign that Prague is accelerating digitisation ahead of the full EES/ETIAS roll-out in June 2026.
For travellers wondering whether their documents meet the latest biometric or visa criteria, VisaHQ can simplify the process. Its Czech Republic portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) offers instant eligibility checks, step-by-step application guidance and update alerts on forthcoming EES/ETIAS rules—helping both business and leisure visitors avoid last-minute surprises at Prague’s new eGATEs.
Until now, Prague’s 29 automated gates were restricted to travellers aged 15+ holding biometric passports from the EU/EEA or Switzerland. By adding four high-volume, visa-exempt markets—together accounting for roughly 650,000 passengers a year—the airport expects to shave at least 30 seconds off each manual inspection and redeploy officers to higher-risk secondary screening. Travellers must still meet the standard Schengen short-stay rules and the gates are currently available only on **departures to non-Schengen destinations**, where queues are traditionally longest. The Foreign Police say the timing was dictated by the April launch of EES. “We had to retune the software so every eGATE transaction also triggers the new biometric record in EES,” spokesperson Josef Urban explained. Over the past month the system has been stress-tested on empty lanes during off-peak hours, with average transaction times falling below 16 seconds. From a business-mobility perspective the expansion is particularly valuable. South Korea and Taiwan are fast-growing sources of semiconductor and battery-supply investment in Czechia, while the UK remains the country’s largest non-EU air market. Faster border processing should help airlines keep turn-around times tight during the summer schedule, when runway 06/24 is closed for refurbishment and all flights are funneled onto the shorter 12/30. Immigration lawyers advise affected companies to brief staff that **only biometric passports work** and to retain paper boarding passes until they exit security; eGATE receipts are not issued. The police also caution that random manual spot-checks will continue, so travellers should still allow sufficient buffer time. Nevertheless, corporate travel managers hail the move as another sign that Prague is accelerating digitisation ahead of the full EES/ETIAS roll-out in June 2026.
