Overview

• Member states will introduce the system in stages over six months, with some large countries limiting initial checks and full deployment due by 10 April 2026.
• Authorities and travel bodies advise allowing extra time for first trips as kiosks capture fingerprints and facial images, with one industry leader urging up to four hours at busy airports.
• Frontex has built a voluntary pre‑registration app, but it is only confirmed for use in Sweden from launch, and industry groups want wider remote registration to cut queues.
• Logistics UK warns potential delays at the Short Straits could cost the UK economy about £400 million a year, urges a cautious rollout, and flags automatic enforcement of the 90/180‑day rule for drivers.
• The EES will store travel‑document data, biometrics and entry/exit records for about three years with access for national authorities and Europol, refusal to provide biometrics can mean refusal of entry, and ABTA warns that ETIAS is not yet live and fraudsters are targeting confused travellers.