Two separate announcements on 22 October 2025—the Max-Planck-led EUCRIM briefing and a statement by the EU’s Coordinated Supervision Committee (CSC)—confirmed that the new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) has formally entered its gradual deployment phase after going live on 12 October. Germany, as one of the Schengen area’s main air and land gateways, must register at least 10 % of all third-country travellers by 11 November, ramping up to full coverage by April 2026.
Under EES, fingerprint and facial-image data replace passport stamps, automatically calculating lawful stay and flagging overstays in real time. Federal Police have already activated 120 e-gates at Frankfurt and Munich airports; Hamburg and Düsseldorf will follow in December. Land borders with Switzerland, Austria and Poland will rely on mobile enrolment units until permanent kiosks are installed.
For business travellers the most immediate impact will be longer queues during the transition. Airlines have been asked to issue “biometric ready” reminders, and German outbound road traffic expects sporadic congestion at the Brenner and Świecko crossings where truck drivers from non-EU countries must now undergo biometric capture.
Data-protection authorities emphasise that the CSC’s inclusion of EES brings the system under joint EU supervision, obliging Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection (BfDI) to audit storage practices and ensure interoperability with the upcoming ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme.
Companies running frequent-traveller programmes should update travel-policy guidance, budget extra time for border formalities, and verify that assignees’ passports support rapid biometric reading. Failure to record an exit may generate automated overstay alerts that complicate future visa applications or Blue-Card renewals.
Under EES, fingerprint and facial-image data replace passport stamps, automatically calculating lawful stay and flagging overstays in real time. Federal Police have already activated 120 e-gates at Frankfurt and Munich airports; Hamburg and Düsseldorf will follow in December. Land borders with Switzerland, Austria and Poland will rely on mobile enrolment units until permanent kiosks are installed.
For business travellers the most immediate impact will be longer queues during the transition. Airlines have been asked to issue “biometric ready” reminders, and German outbound road traffic expects sporadic congestion at the Brenner and Świecko crossings where truck drivers from non-EU countries must now undergo biometric capture.
Data-protection authorities emphasise that the CSC’s inclusion of EES brings the system under joint EU supervision, obliging Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection (BfDI) to audit storage practices and ensure interoperability with the upcoming ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme.
Companies running frequent-traveller programmes should update travel-policy guidance, budget extra time for border formalities, and verify that assignees’ passports support rapid biometric reading. Failure to record an exit may generate automated overstay alerts that complicate future visa applications or Blue-Card renewals.
