Just asking for any updates on the EES in Brussels.

I travelled in December 2025 leaving via Brussels and there was no EES scanning at the time, but horrendous crowds. This in spite of the fact that when I entered Europe in Zürich, in very late November, I was interviewed and scanned. Zürich was a very smooth process.

Lavandula

We flew into Brussels on a Tuesday morning in early June. News stories and at least one trip report had warned of multi-hour waits for entry. There were 8 EES kiosks for non-EU passengers off to the side and many people were just directed past them to wait in line for an officer. We were able to use the kiosks (and I should have coached one of the kids ahead of time that we did not have a visa and that end date meant Schengen not just Belgium). As others have reported, at the end of the process, there is a brief message on screen about whether to see an officer. It seemed like almost everyone who used the kiosks was asked to see an officer but at least it was a shorter line. From landing to buying train tickets was about an hour.

The Brussels airport has a website and on the arrivals page, you can select a flight from earlier in the day, and then you select Border Control and then check the wait times. This sounds great, but did get some strange results that made me wonder if it is showing the current wait time rather than the wait time when the flight landed.

https://www.brusselsairport.be/en/passenger/flights/arriving

FYI a news article from today about the lines at Brussels Airport

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/2219313/up-to-5-hour-long-airport-queues-due-to-new-eu-border-controls-this-summer

Over the past few weeks, queues on arrival have been two to three hours long at most. For departures, waiting times are around one hour," Quentin Mertens, spokesperson for Brussels Airport, told The Brussels Times.

Latest news from the past week: Brussels immigration queues have reportedly hit up to 5 hours during the EES rollout this summer, though that seems to be worst-case, Brussels Airport itself has quoted more like 2-3 hours for arrivals lately. Ryanair and other airlines are pushing the EU to ease the biometric checks during peak season, but no changes yet.
My advice: build in a solid 2-3 hour buffer for arrival, skip any tight connections if you can, and check the live board before landing, brusselsairport.be/en/passenger/flights/arriving (select your flight then Border Control). Keep hotel confirmations handy in your carry-on too, they can help speed things up if you get pulled aside.

We flew into Brussels early on June 15, and there were no electronic kiosks open and no lineups. Maybe it was the time of day? (7:00 am)

We also flew home through Brussels this past Friday but did not have to go through any kind of passport control, as Canadian citizens who were transiting through. Weirdly, we did have to go through security again, though.

We also flew home through Brussels this past Friday but did not have to go through any kind of passport control, as Canadian citizens who were transiting through. Weirdly, we did have to go through security again, though.

Absolutely normal if you were coming from a non-schengen country on transit towards Canada.