Can anyone tell me if their travel has been interrupted in Italy because of the EES now in place?
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
2000 posts
Hello Karen, and welcome to the forum,
If you haven't done ESS you will need to do the registration and it adds a few minutes to your immigration entry but that is all. We just did it in Bologna - you are shunted into a new room they opened and there were 12 or so machines and 4 or 5 helpers and you have to do the picture and fingerprint scan and then head back to the regular immigration area. It added maybe 15 minutes to our entry process but that was it.
On the way out - this is new - we had to look at the camera and put our hand on the scanner and then proceed to the plane.
That's about it. It pretty much a non-event since many places have already had facial recognition immigration machines anyway the registration is really the only added step.
Have a great trip,
=Tod
Posted by
Portsmouth
5984 posts
Whereabouts in Italy are you specifically interested in? There are numerous reports in the news over the last couple of days of huge delays at immigration throughout Europe due to the EES. Both Milan and Rome were mentioned as being particularly badly affected. Any of the major airports that deal with a large number of non-EU passengers are facing the most disruption.
Posted by
Boston
1934 posts
The short answer is most people haven't had difficulty. The EES was recently discussed here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/ees-at-the-rome-airport
Posted by
7 posts
You may find this web resource helpful:
https://etias.com/articles/eu-entry/exit-system-full-implementation-still-april-9,-with-flexibility
It also mentions the difference between EES, in effect now and whgich collects biometric data at time of entry/ exit at the border, and the pre-travel authorization going into effect In October 2026 (ETIAS).
Happy traveling!
Posted by
The Netherlands
2178 posts
Please beware that the website shared by Christina is not the official EU website. It’s a commercial 3rd party website looking to make money from unsuspecting people.
The official EU website is https://travel-europe.europa.eu/en/etias
Posted by
37 posts
Some airports are still working through the newness of the system. This article speaks to issues in Milan - https://www.euronews.com/travel/2026/04/14/a-systemic-failure-how-the-new-entryexit-system-ees-brought-chaos-to-eu-border-control
It is what it is. Eventually, it will be efficient.
Posted by
Los Angeles
5540 posts
And if you want to see what it's like in France ...
Posted by
162 posts
We landed early morning at FCO last week, April 8. The EES machines were not working for most people…passports scanned, photos worked, but fingerprints were not registering. So we were all sent on to manual immigration. Added a bit of time, but really nothing to be concerned about. We were still through it within 20 minutes or so. Hopefully next time we travel to a Schengen country, we can get officially processed and registered.