Has anyone gone through Frankfurt (FRA) exiting Schengen, US-bound, between 9–11am recently?
I’m connecting from Zürich to a US flight on the same Condor ticket, with only a 2.5 hour layover. My entry through Frankfurt from the U.S. a few weeks ago took 3.5 hours with EES. Hoping the exit is faster since Condor only has a few direct flights from Frankfurt to Portland (PDX) per week.
EES times vary considerably due to the number of flights/passengers so it is impossible to provide a timeframe. However the more international flights an airport handles then the longer the EES process will take.
Please don’t let it concern you. We went through it 2 weeks ago. Picture and fingerprints take the longest. Seconds. On to the border police. Maybe a minute. Get your luggage and you’re gone. One issue which should be addressed is the new terminal 3. Thats the part that can take time.
The above responses are addressing entry, exit is mostly a non-issue. It can be done several ways, I believe Germany likes to have a human do it since they like to give, and look for stamps. So when heading into the Non-Schengen terminal you will go through a checkpoint, they will scan your passport and snap your picture, randomly they may ask to check your fingerprints, and on your way if they have no other questions. Other places this may all be done at an e-gate. It really is no different than exit has ever been with the exception of a pic.
Thanks for the replies. Closing the loop on this one. 3.5 hours to enter Schengen EES processing in Frankfurt on June 20. Three minutes to exit on July 6. Whew!
Thanks for sharing your exiting experience! We're heading back to PDX through Frankfurt on Saturday, and it's encouraging that exit could be faster than entry. Ours wasn't 3.5 hours, but it was still pretty long. Fingers crossed our exit experience is similar to yours! :)
Here's an update on my exit: we just breezed through security and border control in a grand total of twenty minutes, which includes the foot traffic in between. Now my family's a bit annoyed with me, since I made us all get here so early, but I'll take it! :)
Good to hear. Our EES was a breeze through Frankfurt. Like total Breeze. Munich not so much.
It depends on what country you are arriving from. I just came through from Bulgaria and Bulgaria messed up my export. So they had to fix it in Frankfort for both my friend and me. It wasn’t a big deal but it took an extra 15 minutes at the window. Plus my gate at Frankfurt was the furthest of them all. So lots of walking.good luck.
Son & I exited Frankfurt on 9 July '26. We scanned our passports & took a photo at the self service kiosks. Then we got in line for a person to check us out. He looked at passport, directed heads to a photo, then waved us thru. Line took about 25 minutes 10 am.
Adding our data point. Entry into FRA from US flight. Arrived around noon and headed out via train to Mainz. Entry into Germany took about 15 minutes. No kiosk, just stood in line and agent looked at passport, typed a bit and stamped passport. No questions, photos or fingerprints. Easy to pop down to the train station from there.
I think that there are different experiences based on if you're entering Germany at FRA versus transferring elsewhere in the Schengen. My guess is there's lots of transfer traffic coming off the US flights so EES experience during mornings can be different if you're transferring versus leaving FRA airport.
Exiting FRA back to the US took a bit longer. We didn't have a line to use a kiosk, so that part took about 2 minutes. Then stood in line for about 30ish minutes to meet with an officer. Again no questions, just looked at things and then stamped passport again and off we went.
