The European Union is replacing passport stamps with biometric scans under its new Entry/Exit System.
If you're heading to the European Union for spring break or summer vacation this year, get ready for a new screening process at the border. The EU has done away with passport stamps and is now going all-biometric instead.
Starting April 10, all EU border crossings in the Schengen Area will fully switch over to the new Entry/Exit System, which requires border officers to take a picture of a traveler's face and/or scan their fingerprints.
“For stamp collectors, this is slightly disappointing,” Vykintas Maknickas, CEO of Saily, an eSim provider, told USA TODAY. “The EU collects your image, your biometric data like fingerprints and it uses it to basically timestamp how much time you’re in the EU specifically, so it will be way more difficult to overstay, and if you overstay, they will know.”
Maknickas warned that, while the process is likely to be more efficient than getting passport stamps in the long-run, there could be some hiccups in the early days of its full implementation, so you might want to pad your layovers if you can.
“You might need more time, specifically during this period of adaptation," he said. "The season for people traveling to the EU is just starting out, so it’s quite good timing for it to be implemented now instead of the summer when the majority of travelers are traveling to the EU from the U.S.”
Aside from the new biometric entry and exit process, there are no changes to EU visa requirements for U.S. visitors, and a valid passport will still be required for travel.
The new process is also separate from the EU's Electronic Travel Information and Authorisation System, which will be implemented in the fourth quarter of this year. That will require U.S.-based and other travelers to the EU to register and receive proof of registry in advance.
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By Zach Wichter, USA TODAY.