Now that EES has been deferred...

Depends on which airport, time of travel, number of international flights arriving simultaneously.
Plan on up to 90 min extra for Rome-Fiumicino, 75 min extra at Milan Malpensa, up to 60 min for other airports.
But sometimes it can be very quick.
In Europe you go through passport control also to exit the EU/Schengen zone, so plan to check in 3 hours prior to departure for US/Canada bound flights.

Where did you read that EES was delayed? It has been operating for months (I went through it in March) and people were reporting here from just a few days before going through EES in Rome. Also since it is a whole Europe/Schengen system I doubt one country could decide to "opt-out" at this point.

Update: I now see the announcements of some delays in Italy, but people were reporting being enrolled just the other day. The provisional technically allows for "temporary easing" at high traffic times but I wonder if they are going to use that as an excuse to ignore it completely.
If we are already enrolled is the automated system going to be available still I wonder.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/14/eu-countries-delay-ees-entry-exit-system-border-checks-france-greece-portugal-italy

I wonder if ETIAS will ever happen.
=Tod

I saw several articles online on this topic. Here's one example - https://etias.com/articles/eu-delays-border-checks-again-for-nine-countries

Thanks sandeep1236, I edited my initial response after I also saw the news. As I said I wonder if they are really going to only drop it during high traffic times or use this as an excuse to stop until Brussels tells them they have to - again. Italians in general are pro-immigration control and people reported being enrolled just the other day.

The EU drama continues... good luck!
=Tod

Thank you, Tod! I will be landing in FCO at 10:30 AM on a Saturday in October. Hoping that there isn't a huge delay at passport control. I have a guided tour booked for 3PM that afternoon but I am assuming that even with an hour-plus delay, I will have enough time to get to my hotel in the Monti area, drop off my bags, and get to my tour on-time. Fingers crossed!

This has all been so confusing but you still have to go thru entry and exit to Schengen which means passport control. How much time has taken in the past? Dependo…..how many flights are arriving at the same time, how many passport officers are on duty, etc.

I am still facing delays at passport controls in other countries due to the failure of passport control at FCO to document my exit in April. Make sure they scan or stamp your passport.

Hoping that there isn't a huge delay at passport control. I have a
guided tour booked for 3PM that afternoon...

Sandeep, I think you're flying from Canada? Most of us would advise not booking tours or anything else with non-refundable tickets for arrival day on a transatlantic flight. Aside from any potential EES issues, there's also the possibility of a flight delay or cancellation. It happens often enough to keep that possibility in the back pocket.

I'm getting ready to enter the EU via air in Sofia (Bulgaria) and exit through Thessaloniki's airport (Greece) with a visit to Albania at a land border in between. All you can do when you click the apply button for each of them as the starting point is provide your email to receive notice when it's ready?! This is from the EU site:
"ETIAS is currently not in operation and no applications for travel authorisations are collected at this point."
I am confused if some of you have it for other countries in the EU? I did see something about "October" but...
Thanks for clarifying!

There is a difference between EES (entry-exit system) and ETIAS, which is the European visa waiver system like ESTA or ETA in other countries. Currently ETIAS is not yet in place and likely it will be pushed back even further because EES has been so slow to implement. There will be a big to-do made when ETIAS is finally implemented so you will not miss it, don't worry.

Lavandula

ETIAS and EES are 2 different things

I landed at Rome FCO on 9/23/26 at about 10:30am. There was a quick-moving line and I got through in about 15 minutes. No EES fingerprinting, just the usual scanning of passports and facial recognition. There were several airport employees showing us the correct lines to use and who kept it moving.

Just a note that you should use the EU websites for dates and official information:

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees

The linked news article above is from a third party. Though it may be correct in this instance, it is best to check with the source.

In Italy currently. When my wife and I arrived on September 14 around 10 am the line for EU passport holders was 3x longer than that for other passport holders. I was on the line for about ten minutes when several hundred of us were brought all the way to the entry machines. I exited passport control/EES been before my Italian wife. She was shocked as that’s never happened at Malpensa and never on a Monday morning. It was quick and painless. My passport scanned within 90 seconds. All of the issues were mainly during June, July and August. I’ve skimmed the Italian publications and have seen NOTHING about EES being delayed in Italy. Yes, it’ll be deferred during busy times, but, most of those busy times are behind us, except perhaps Christmas. If it can happen quickly in Malpensa it can be quick everywhere since it was always a pain to enter at Malpensa, at least in the summertime.

Before the implementation of EES, the consensus on here was that at FCO, it could take 15 minutes, it could take two hours.

Once EES started to be implemented, that changed to 15 minutes to two hours, the change was that you could blame EES.

If they have truly suspended EES, then I would say the advise pre-EES is still valid, that it will take anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours (I am not including the long walk from the plane to immigration, or the long walk from immigration out of the airport to taxis or the train station), though if it is busy, you can't blame it on EES.