EES Delayed in France .... maybe some other countries will join in the delay (?)

Not surprised.

I have yet to register for EES. I return to Schengen in April. My plan is to fly into a smaller airport within Schengen with few flights from outside Schengen. (I'll be arriving via London.) Hopefully, that will make it easier to get through EES registration.

Assuming they stay on schedule and are set up for EES registation.

Wonderful (sarcasm).

They're talking about delaying during the summer travel months. I land at CDG on April 11th, the day after the EES is supposed to go into effect. Unless they decide to push that date, I get to be a test case.

Peachy, just peachy.

-- Mike Beebe

Presumably I am exempt. But the minute the staff sees my US passport I am not sure if they will understand and I dont intend on arguing the point; afterall I could be wrong. Define "long term visa"? Didnt I see in that video in the other post that one of the questions was, do you have a long term visa card? Does that mean if you answer yes, they tell you that you are in the wrong line? Doubt it. I suspect I will end up going thorugh the process needed or not. It will be in Hungary after returning from Montenegro in June. I am hoping that the airport does it as well as they do most things, its really a pretty good airport. But passport control is not that large a room. I am looking forward to seeing where they put all the equipment.

I understand that the Associated Press has already written the story about the system being compromised and all of our information being on the dark web. They are just waiting on confirmation before printing the story. / also scarcasim /s

I see some people are worried about EES, so I will share my personal experience. I visited Prague last month and registered at an EES machine on arrival. The whole thing took about three minutes. Then I queued for about five minutes for passport control and that was it. It really wasn't difficult. I sometimes have issues with fingerprint scanners and needing to try several times but I did not have any issues. I hope this is reassuring.

Thanks for sharing, Cat VH. It is reassuring. Did passport control still stamp your passport?
I thought EES would be like Global Entry - once you are registered, you wouldn't need a full passport control staff. I also know it will vary by country.

I fly in early September from USA to Amsterdam (2 hour connection) then to Poland on KLM. I assume I'll register for EES in Amsterdam.
I also have issues with my fingerprints but will bring a travel size moisturizer to apply before deplaning.

And I think I will just miss the start of ETIAS which is another story.

For the most part. they are only requesting a pause at the two busiest airports (CDG and ORY) or at least the ability to suspend use if needed. Currently airports can start and stop the process as needed, with targets of the percent of travelers using EES as goals. After April 10, they are obligated to screen 100% of passengers using EES. If you are flying into a smaller airport, arriving by ferry or ship, or by Eurostar, you likely will see EES. So there will be no stop, but possibly intermittent use of EES as it is now for specific airports.

For some reason, I am not surprised that CDG, and Lisbon as well, are having problems, those two airports have been nightmares on and off for years with just regular immigration activity.

As for stamping of passports, that will continue until things are fully implemented, then it goes away.

I also have issues with my fingerprints but will bring a travel size moisturizer to apply before deplaning.

Where I volunteer I have to go through a fingerprint scan. Because I usually fail the first several times I have asked other volunteers what they do in this situation. It runs the gamut from wetting the finger with sanitizer to washing the finger beforehand and wrapping it in a paper towel till finger presentation to be as dry as possible. Just saying moisturizer may be counterproductive. People are also
equally split on whether to press hard or soft on the glass. All this sh-t should go to facial recognition which seems to always work.

Incidentally I am told repeatedly that I have a “high score” fingerprint (such a high achiever) and I must be “doing it wrong.” “It” in this case is placing my finger on a glass sensor.

"I also have issues with my fingerprints but will bring a travel size moisturizer to apply before deplaning."

I thought hand lotion/cream/any product made getting good fingerprints worse? A number of years ago I had a discussion with a Border Patrol guy while I was getting my Global Entry interview. He told me older individuals had a more difficult time with fingerprints so to try and stay hydrated on the flight and not to use hand lotion. Maybe thoughts on this have changed since then, lol.

I'm glad this was helpful! To answer Joy's question- no, they did not stamp my passport. And to confirm, as I just looked this up, once you register it is good for three years.

stay hydrated on the flight

Interesting because I have noticed a correlation between dehydration and failing the fingerprint scan but I thought it was a farfetched connection.

Back at the end of January, the European Commission basically gave every country that was supposed to have implemented EES by 4/10 a reprieve of 90 days, and possibly 90+60. I notified the Forum of this earlier.

I would not worry about this right now not any time in the immediate future.

Color me Chronically Confused.

I am going to Paris for the very first time May 2026 landing at CDG.

EES -- Is that something you will do at the airport when it is implemented? Is there anything that I will need to do online before I fly into CDG like the England ETA?

All these E's: EES, Etias and ETA..

bostonphil- if EES is implemented at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport by the time you travel (which seems to be a bit of a question mark)- then no, there is nothing you need to do in advance. Once you land you will be directed to some machines where you will need to answer some questions on a screen and then scan your face and fingerprints. Once you do that you won't have to do it again for three years. Then you just proceed through passport control. If it's not implemented by then you will just enter directly through passport control as normal. I agree all these "E" terms are getting confusing!

Good news. I land at CDG in the morning of May 27. Basically , no concerns at all. I just pay attention carefully to "their" directions given in both French and English. I am happy when the passport stamp is completed.

We have a very short connection in Munich. We fly in from Denver and have 75 minutes until our flight to Helsinki. I'm concerned about all the issues I'm hearing with delays and long lines with EES. Do I need to change my flight (ugh)?

Cat VH

Thank you

I do not mind doing something extra at the airport. And I do not mind making out. a form on line before I go.

It is just when filling out the form gets complicated and I am told that i must do it before leaving or I will not even be able to get on the plane or ship. And no other options are offered like doing it at the airport in case I can not do it on line.

We have a very short connection in Munich. We fly in from Denver and have 75 minutes until our flight to Helsinki. I'm concerned about all the issues I'm hearing with delays and long lines with EES. Do I need to change my flight (ugh)?

When is your trip?

But if EES is operational at Munich and you need to register for it, I would want more time in Munich. Normally, 75 minutes should be fine, but with EES issues.....who knows?

The good news is....if it is on one ticket, and you miss the flight due to immigration delays, the airline should put you on the next available flight free of charge.

Frank, I suspect there will be a few very well publicized cluster things, but in general things will be okay. Geee, where have we seen that before?

"I'm concerned about all the issues I'm hearing with delays and long lines with EES. Do I need to change my flight (ugh)?"

@LBN - Welcome to the forum. I'll add to Frank's info above that I would check to see the times of flights to Finland for later in the day. Not to actually change your ticket now but so you have that information in case there are problems at the time. And hopefully your flights are all on one ticket? If you need help troubleshooting you might start your own thread so the answers don't get buried and we don't pull Mr E's thread too far off course.

bostonphil I posted a link to a thread that includes a video about how to do EES in your question about the UK ETA. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/eta-question-not-been-asked-yet

For those confused about the various E- requirements, here are two explainers from the host of this site.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/europe-visa-waiver

https://blog.ricksteves.com/insights/ees/

Thank you CL

I am getting a better handle on the E's ..... More understandable which means less confusing.

What I need to do is get more comfortable with using apps on my phone. It is probably time for a new phone.

Someone, a travel professional but not on this forum, made the comment that this applies to most of Europe. “Most” is subjective and refers to 29 countries (or about 55%).

The 18 countries that It doesn’t apply to are England, Scottland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, belarus & russia. Add to that, technically it doesn’t apply to any of the 5 micro-states or a few of the self-rule territories but I dont count them because you have to enter through a EES country ... well except for the UK examples i guess.

So, if you don’t want to mess with it, there are options (although the UK has the same horse with a different name)

Thank you Mr E

I think that I have to learn how to use my phone with apps so as to complete any of the E's for European Travel including England.

I will note that it is assumed that the whole world has one of the later models iPhones. I have one of the less expensive Samsung Galaxies which is several years old. It does not have a good camera but maybe that will not matter.

I think that I am going to practice filling out the ETA. I am going to download the app and try to complete it. For Paris in May, I do not think I need to worry about the EES.

bostonphil7, sorry, the nonsense about which countries are in Europe is because we are professionals here and we should respect everyone ... even Moldova. So I post something similar pretty often in hope that in time recognizing the whole club will become second nature. I dont want us to sound like.... well have you seen the game show snippet where the player thought Europe was a country? Google it "I thought Europe was a country" its hilarious. I cant put the link because the title on the link would be offensive so many.

As for the app, I think you will do fine. And your Samsung can't be any worse than my old Samsung flip phone. You would be surprised to learn IPhone has 55 to 60% of the US market but less than 30% of the market in Europe, so I suspect the Europeans are writing those Apps to work well on phones other than IPhones.

I suspect you will work your way through this quite well. I used to try and avoid phone apps. I have bad eyesight and big fingers. If you ever see a post from me and "The" is spelled "Tge" thats why. About every third time it comes out that way. So I have a small laptop that was supposed to be the solution. But these days there are things you can do on a phone app that you cant do on a laptop. Makes no sense.

Anyway, I get it. I suffer it too.

G-d Bless and Safe Travels.