Question re the New EU Entry Guidelines

There is nothing to do in advance for EES.it happens at the European airport upon your arrival.

For your Global Entry, you need to see what the validity date is of your Global Entry. If it is still valid, you need to update your passport information, so your Global Entry is tied to your current passport
If your Global Entry has expired, you will need to apply to renew it.

Thank you for your helpful reply. Do you know if we will be able to quickly and efficiently get through the passport control when we travel from Athens to Munich? My thought is we should sail through German passport control since we are traveling from EU country to another and already did the EES upon our initial arrival in Athens?

For the Global Entry, log into your account and there will be a place to update your passport information.

There is no passport control when you arrive in Germany (Schengen country) from Greece (another Schengen member country).

You don't need your Global Entry card for air travel.

Since you don't seem to be familiar with Schegen, I suggest you learn all about it as it will affect your travel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area.

You will go through exit immigration when you depart for home.

Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to reply. I had also figured the Schengen rules would apply upon my entry from Greece to Germany. However, there’s some vloggers out there stating they missed connecting flights in Germany due to the new EES system slowing everything down and that travelers should make sure they have at least 3 hours between connecting flights. The implication was the EES system in Germany is not yet running efficiently and that even intra-EU travelers could miss connecting flights as a result. I was confused because I thought travelers within the EU wouldn’t necessarily be going through the same lines as those just entering from outside the EU. I wanted to be sure I could make my connecting flight.

Thank you all again.

To Freedonia- I use Global Entry to expedite entry back into the USA after traveling abroad. It saves lots of time at my busy home airport and is a breeze getting through passport control.

there’s some vloggers out there stating they missed connecting flights in Germany due to the new EES system slowing everything down

I dont know who these vloggers are, but either they didn't know what they were talking about, or you misunderstood the circumstances. EES is only done when either entering ir exiting the EU. So anyone who missed a connecting flight because of Passport Control slowdowns due to EES was either arriving from outside the EU, or connecting to a flight out of the EU. If you are on flights completely within, you wont go through Passport Control, therefore EES would not be a factor.

I would also note that there are an abundance of international airports in Germany, and don't think it would be accurate to lump them together as far as speed and efficiency in Immigration processing is concernd.

You may have misread Frank’s post. He said that the global entry card is not needed to go through the GE line. While this is accurate there have been a few reports that if the GE kiosk is not working those with their GE card are allowed head of the line privileges. So I have started carrying mine.

As Rocket has said, the GE card is not necessary for air travel but a good idea to have on you "just in case." (You probably won't need your passport as GE has gone mostly to facial recognition.)

Even if your passport number has changed, your "Trusted Traveler" number stays the same. As long as it has not expired, your old card is fine. In fact, they won't send you a new card even if you change your passport number. I've done this.

As regards to slowness in Germany, I can attest for it. They still want to see stamps in passports--entering and exitiing. Since stamps are not required anymore in most places, this slows things down as they ask for proof.

You won't be going through passport control in Munich. The people complaining about long waits in passport lines were probably coming from outside of Schengen and connecting to a Schengen country.

You will go through passport control when you exit to return to the US. If this is in Germany, have proof of your arrival into Schengen in case the Greeks no longer stamp passports.

So when you leave Athens, you're flying to Munich and then to Hamburg. So you're staying w/in Schengen the entire time.

You WILL, however, go through EES whenever you LEAVE Schengen. From your post it's not clear when/where/how that is happening. If it's a direct from wherever in Germany to the US, you'll do it then; if you are flying MUC-FRA-US, however, it would happen in Frankfurt (or AMS or CDG or whatever).

EES-passport control takes place at the first port of entry to the Schengen Area and the last port of departure out of the Schengen Area. If you are flying within Schengen Area, in your case ATH > MUC > HAM, you don't need to go through EES-passport control.

If you are using EES for the first time, your fingerprints and a facial photo will be collected upon arrival. When departing the EU for the US, you will typically only need to complete a facial scan (no fingerprinting, as it is already in the European Entry/Exit System database) to verify your identity against the digital file created when you arrived.

So if you have a direct, non-stop flight from the US (ABC) to Athens, then Athens is where you go through EES; but if your flight itinerary involves a connection in say Amsterdam (i.e., ABC > AMS > ATH), you go through EES at Schiphol Airport (AMS).

Similarly, if your return itinerary is HAM > AMS > ABC, then you will go through EES-passport control at Schiphol Airport (AMS). For HAM > ABC non-stop flight, then HAM is your last port and it's where you go through EES.

First question: you don't have to do anything in advance.

Third question: Your Global Entry (GE) membership remains completely valid up to and including the exact day of expiration; but they recommend you submit your Global Entry renewal application early (as early as one year before your membership expires). Renewing early does not shorten your membership term; your new five-year period is added directly to your original expiration date. Whenever you have a new passport, you need to log into your GE account and update your new passport number and expiration date.