EU Queue Spouses

Not specifically the airport you mention, but generally there are separate lines for EU and non-EU passport holders. Since you are traveling together, when you get there, ask if you can go through together whether it be the EU or non-EU line.

I had family members go through immigration at FCO this summer and they needed to use an EU and Non EU line because of their different passports.

I know EU law is supposed to allow family members to accompany one another, and this has been my experience before. But I've not gone through Fiumicino like this before.

Before my wife became an Italian citizen and had only a U.S. passport she would always come with me through the EU line, including at FCO, and everything was fine for the officers.

I don’t know if that is possible anymore, especially at FCO. None of the passport control (immigration) positions for EU nationals are manned at FCO anymore, and everything is done automatically through face recognition technology.

Now you have to scan the EU passport at a turnstile, which automatically opens. You then walk to the next step, before another turnstile, where a camera will take a photo of you face and match it to the passport you have just scanned. After the photo is taken and matched, the second turnstile opens and you are good to go, no interaction with human beings. So if someone with a U.S. passport goes through that scanning process, I don’t know if it is rejected (and the turnstile stays closed) since the passport is not EU. There are however people at lines before the machines, which direct travelers to the proper line, so you may be able to ask if a U.S. passport holder can go through together with the EU passport holder in the same lines.

Interesting system, same kind of thing at Heathrow. you go through a turnstile and you're in a new country, no human interaction.

Unless an alarm goes off ...

I arrived at FCO from China two hours ago (late afternoon in Italy). With my Italian passport I was addressed to automatic gates and it took me literally 45 seconds to clear immigration. Two South American members of our group had to took the general queue and spent one hour waiting.

The system, called E-gates, is fairly new, I think it was installed at FCO at the end of 2023. It was definitely present already in summer 2024 and also now, when I flew to Rome.

I believe the e-gates are also in the non EU nationals’ line, but only for passport holders of certain countries (including the U.S.) who also have electronic passports (the ones with the chip). So if that is your case, the entry will be fast even for non EU nationals.