From 12 October Europe will introduce the Entry/Exit System: no more stamps on passports, fingerprints and facial recognition will arrive for those entering or leaving the Union
Forget the automatic gesture of stamping your passport: from Sunday 12 October traveling in Europe will never be the same as before. With the introduction of theEntry/Exit System (EES)the European Union enters the era of biometric controls. No more ink: now they will be fingerprints, facial scanning and electronic registration to define the identity of travelers arriving and departing from the external borders of the Schengen area.
In Italy, they will inaugurate this silent revolution Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa and Linatetogether with the ports of Civitavecchia and Genoawhere the experimentation will start in pilot mode before extending to the entire national territory by April 2026.
How the new system will work
Those arriving from non-EU countries – including post-Brexit UK citizens – will have to scan your passport, provide fingerprints and a facial image. The data will then be recorded in the eu-LISA database based in Tallinn, Estonia, where biometric and demographic information from 25 Schengen countries and four associated states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) will be collected and managed.
The system will definitively replace the manual stamp with an electronic registration that will allow monitor entry and exit flows and automatically check the duration of stays, which cannot exceed 90 days in a period of 180.
What changes for travellers
At the beginning, a little patience will be needed: the new biometric procedures will take longer than traditional checks. But after the first registration, subsequent entries will be much faster thanks to the automatic comparison of data in the system.
THE electronic passports can be used in automatic gates marked with the golden camera symbolwhile i children under 12 years old they will be exempt from fingerprinting. In some airports and ports, travelers will be able to anticipate part of the procedure thanks to self-service kiosks and dedicated apps.
From stamp to fingerprint
Regulation (EU) 2025/1534 requires the new system to become 100% operational by April 2026, but the transition has already begun. Europe is thus taking a decisive step towards the total digitalisation of mobility, archiving an iconic gesture – the stamp in the passport – to replace it with a technology that promises more security and less bureaucracy.
It remains to be seen whether real passenger flows and the complexity of borders will be able to keep pace with innovation. Meanwhile, those leaving from Rome or Milan will just have to remember one thing: smile at the scanner. It’s the new European way of saying “Welcome”.
