Americans Will Have To Get Fingerprinted In These 22 European Countries Starting October 12 Confirmed

This year, Americans will start getting fingerprinted when traveling to most European countries, as part of the new Entry/Exit System applying to all non-European visitors.

Commonly called EES, this new system will see the introduction of new biometric data collection kiosks across European airports. Once operational, tourists will need to give their fingerprints and scan their passports and faces when entering and leaving Europe.

The aim is to prevent and catch overstayers in the Schengen Area, Europe’s border-free zone comprising 29 countries, and ensure the 90-day rule is respected. As an American visitor, you’re only allowed to remain in Schengen for 90 days out of any 180-day period.

However, not all European countries will be enforcing the EES in the same way, or launching it at the same time.

With the official launch date being tomorrow, October 12, these are the 22 EU member states that are ready (or partially-ready) to implement the new system:

Austria

As confirmed by the Austrian Embassy in the United States, Austria is one of the European states expected to automatically enforce the EES system as of October 12.

In their own words, ‘most U.S. citizens visiting Austria for short stays should expect to have their biodata, including fingerprints and facial images, digitally collected at the border’, both upon arrival and departure, from that date onward.

Austria is expected to roll out the EES gradually across its airports over six months beginning October 12. The list of entry points joining the earlier trials has not been unveiled, but it is sure to include Vienna Airport (VIE), the largest hub in the country, and the only one to host Transatlantic flights.

Belgium

As the host of several European institutions and the capital of the European Union, it’s only natural that Brussels would lead by example:

The Government of its parent country, Belgium, has asserted that the new registration system will begin operating as early as October 12, across most Belgian airports and international ports, as well as the Brussels-Midi station, for those arriving on the Eurostar from London.

Belgium will be taking fingerprints of all non-Europeans who enter the Schengen space for short stays, ‘whether they’re subject to visa restrictions or not’—this includes U.S. passport holders traveling as tourists.

Croatia

As we reported back on September 22, Croatia’s Ministry of Interior informed that they will be activating the system on October 12, alongside several of their European counterparts.

The complete list of impacted airports and maritime ports has not been published, though it’s a majority of them that will be taking part in the first waves of registration. These include Zagreb Airport (ZAG), Split (SPU), and Dubrovnik (DBV).

Regarding road crossings shared with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, which comprise Croatia’s non-Schengen borders, more information is yet required. Either way, if you’re driving into Croatia from one of these three countries in the near future, prepare for some delay.

Czechia

Czechia (alternatively known as the Czech Republic) will also be tagging along on October 12. Implementation of the EES system will take place at every single one of the country’s external Schengen borders on this exact date.

Seeing that fellow EU/Schengen states surround Czechia, we can safely assume this refers to international airports, more specifically, Prague’s Václav Havel Airport (PRG), Ostrava – Mosnov International Airport (OSR), Brno – Turany Airport (BRQ), and Karlovy Vary Airport (KLV).

These are the only 4 airports in the country that host non-Schengen flights—Prague in particular is set to welcome American Airlines’ new direct flights from Philly next spring.

Denmark

Over in Scandinavia, Denmark will be among the first to adopt the new Entry/Exit System. The news was delivered in a press release by Copenhagen Airport this week, where the initial trial will happen before the gradual nationwide rollout.

Airport authorities have stated that all the necessary infrastructure to ‘ensure a smooth transition’ to the new system is already in place.

Despite that, travelers should beware of ‘longer waiting times’ if they’re registering in Copenhagen, as procedures are updated. For that reason, the airport has deployed ‘additional stuff’ to guide newcomers and assist them in using the EES kiosks.

Estonia

Estonia will not only participate in the initial EES launch on October 12, but it will also become the first European nation to implement it across all its external borders.

This has been confirmed by the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board: based on their statement, the EES will be applied in Tallinn Airport, all of the country’s seaports which host non-European sea vessels, and major road and rail crossings with Russia.

Estonia’s preparedness is no surprise, given that Tallinn houses the headquarters of eu-LISA, the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems… and they’re the ones responsible for making the EES operational.

Finland

The Finnish Border Guard is also readying itself for the Entry/Exit System on October 12, as shared by Finavia, the company responsible for managing and developing Finland’s airport network.

The border authority will implement the system at border control points over a six-month period to give travelers time to adapt to the new procedure and ensure a stable transition. During this period, Finavia will support them by ensuring ‘terminal space arrangements’ and providing passenger guidance.

The main airport concerned is Helsinki-Vantaa (HEL), Finland’s main international hub. Other airports that may be impacted from October 12 include Rovaniemi (RVN), the gateway to Lapland, and Kittilä (KTT), which also serves the Arctic region.

France

France is yet another country gearing up to launch the EES, if not fully, then on a large scale on October 12. French authorities have unveiled that registration for travelers landing in the country will take place in two ways: either via a self-service kiosk or in the form of a mobile tablet handled by border agents.

Contrary to most European countries, France has gone ahead and listed up every airport, train station, and maritime port where the EES will be operational this fall.

Find the complete list below:

Airports

• Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG)
• Paris Orly (ORY)
• Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL)
• Beauvais (BVA)
• Bordeaux (BOD)
• Lyon (LYS)
• Marseille (MRS)
• Montpellier (MPL)
• Nantes (NTE)
• Nice (NCE)
• Strasbourg (SXB)
• Toulouse (TLS)

Train stations

• Gare du Nord – France (Eurostar)
• St Pancras Station – London (Eurostar)
• Coquelles Terminal – France (Eurotunnel)
• Folkestone Terminal – United Kingdom(Eurotunnel)

Maritime ports

• Caen
• Calais
• Cherbourg
• Dieppe
• Douvres
• Dunkirk
• Le Havre
• Marseille
• Roscoff
• Saint-Malo
• Sete

Germany

Germany is launching the EES in a gradual manner from October 12. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, alongside the Federal Police, is working together to ensure a complete nationwide rollout has been completed by April 9, 2026.

That being said, on October 12, Düsseldorf Airport (DUS) is the only one expected to have it fully implemented. Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) will follow next, at an unspecified date.

Dates have not been provided for Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), Hamburg (HAM), Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN), nor Germany’s sea borders, though it’s safe to say the new system will be operational in those by spring 2026.

Greece

Greece’s participation in the October 12 launch of the EES was confirmed by its Embassy in London. Exact entry points affected were not provided, but the Greek mission has signalled that manual passport stamps are soon to be replaced by fingerprinting.

Major Greek airports where the EES is expected to make a debut this fall include Athens (ATHN), the only international hub to host U.S. flights and Greece’s busiest airport, Heraklion (HER), the capital of Crete, and Thessaloniki (SKG).

Greek islands in the vicinity of Turkey, like Lesbos, Chios, Kos, and Rhodes, that all see a high influx of boat crossings from the neighboring country, may also be part of the early registration campaign, but we have not been able to fully verify this information.

Italy

If you’re heading to Italy this fall, you should be prepared to give your fingerprints and smile for the picture when landing in the following hubs:

• Milan Linate (LIN)
• Milan Malpensa (MXP)
• Rome Fiumicino (FCO)

These 3 airports, some of Italy’s busiest, will be among the first to implement the Entry/Exit System on October 12, quickly followed by the ports of Civitavecchia and Genoa. By October 20, it is estimated that all airports will be able to register at least 10% of travelers.

Italy will continue expanding its EES usage progressively, across smaller airports and its maritime borders with non-Schengen states, and by April 9, the deadline for fully enforcing the new rule, the registration quota will rise to 100%.

Latvia

According to the Public Broadcasting of Latvia, the small Baltic nation is ready to toggle on the EES system on October 12 at Riga Airport (RIX).

This airport serves the national capital, Riga, and it’s the country’s busiest and only major hub, handling over 5 million passengers a year. The Freeport of Riga, straddling the Baltic Sea, may also be concerned by the EES implementation.

Latvia also shares land borders with two non-EU member states, Russia (via the Kaliningrad exclave), and Belarus, yet no information has been provided regarding the registration of travelers arriving from these particular border crossings.

Lithuania

Following an announcement by the Lithuanian Embassy in Georgia, we have also been able to confirm that Lithuania is part of the batch of countries bringing forth the EES this October.

Aside from border crossings with Belarus and Russia (also via the Kaliningrad exclave), most EES operations in Lithuania will be centered in Vilnius Airport (VNO), serving Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, and Kaunas (KUN), the country’s second civil airport.

Pending confirmation, it is also possible that the Entry/Exit System will be available at Palanga (PLQ), a minor airport near the Baltic resort town of the same name, as it hosts flights from at least 4 non-Schengen destinations: Antalya, Dublin, London-Stansted, and Sharm El Sheikh.

Luxembourg

Besides Estonia, Luxembourg will be the only other European country able to roll out the EES fully at its external Schengen border.

Then again, it’s not like they have that many to manage, as the only external border is located at Luxembourg Airport, and every other land border is shared with a fellow European nation—France, Germany, Belgium, or the Netherlands.

If you’re landing in Luxembourg from outside the European Union, your only way in is through Luxembourg Airport (LUX), and the airport has issued a statement informing passengers that the Entry/Exit System will be operational from October 12.

Malta

Much like Luxembourg, the tiny Mediterranean nation of Malta is ready to introduce the Entry/Exit System at its only airport, Malta International Airport (MLA), except they will do it in phases.

Based on the information provided, third country nationals (and this includes Americans) who are departing from, or arriving in Malta from outside the Schengen Area, will be ‘randomly selected’ to pass through a biometric passport control lane.

Should you be selected, yoy may be asked to provide your passport, take a photo, or give your fingerprints, but as airport authorities have pointed out, ‘no registration is required from the passenger’s end ahead of traveling through Malta International Airport’.

Norway

In a message addressed to U.S. tourists, the U.S. Embassy in Norway conveyed that, from October 12, the Scandinavian country will start fingerprinting visitors, and that they should prepare for new procedures at the airport as they work around the new system.

To directly quote them, ‘most U.S. citizens visiting Norway for short stays should expect to have their biodata, including fingerprints and facial images, digitally collected at the border’, starting this week. This applies to those entering and leaving the country.

Like other countries adopting the Entry/Exit System, Norway plans to do away with manual passport stamps by the end of the trial period on April 9, 2026.

Portugal

The Embassy of Portugal in Cyprus authenticated in a consular note that the Iberian country ‘will take part in the entry into operation of the Entry/Exit System’ from October 12.

In Portugal, the EEs will eventually replace the traditional stamps given out by border guards with centralized electronic records, and the transition period from manual passport checks to the automated biometric check will take 6 months, in line with the EU-wide directive.

We’re not sure at this moment which Portuguese airports are ready to roll from tomorrow, but we’ll take a guess and say it’s probably Lisbon (LIS) and Porto (OPO), two of the main international airports in the country, that will host EES trials first.

Slovenia

A small alpine nation in Central Europe filled with fairytale towns, medieval castles, and epic mountainous scenery, Slovenia is not shying away from tightening border controls if that means catching the odd overstayer.

Surprisingly well-equipped for a country of its size, it is introducing EES on October 12 as planned, no delays, at several of its main outer-Schengen border crossings.

These include three crossing points for international air traffic, Ljubljana (LJU), Maribor (MBX), and Portorož (POW), and two maritime entry points, at the ports of Koper and Piran. Implementation in these sites will be gradual from October 12, with completion scheduled for April 10, 2026.

Romania

Romanian Border Police is prepared to run the Entry/Exit System from October 12, amid the wider EU rollout.

In their own wording, a ‘phased system’ will be used, ‘initially at selected crossing points’, before being expanded to the entire external EU border, over a period of 170 calendar days counting from the launch date.

As for those crossing points, they weren’t as descriptive as the French in letting us know the exact airports, train crossings, and maritime borders where the system will be active beginning this week. We guess we’ll have to wait and see as the situation unfolds.

Spain

As we reported ourselves last week, Spain is kickstarting the EES this October 12, first at the Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD).

Passengers flying into Madrid from outside the European Union should expect to see new fingerprinting and facial scan kiosks in the arrival hall, before they reach the immigration booths, and this will soon be replicated in more airports across the nation.

When it comes to land borders—it shares non-Schengen borders with Morocco through their exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and with the United Kingdom through the British territory of Gibraltar, located in the south of Spain—EES enforcement will happen ‘at a later date’.

Sweden

In line with its Scandi siblings, Sweden seems to be fully ready to implement the Entry/Exit System from October 12. Not only that, they even have an app to make registering a little easier.

From the launch date onward, travelers who land in Arlanda (ARN), Stockholm’s main airport, Bromma (BMA), the Swedish capital’s secondary hub, Gothenburg-Landvetter (GOT), Malmö (MMX), or even Stockholm region’s minor Skavsta Airport (NYO) will be able to register in advance.

They can do so using the app Travel to Europe, which will be made available from the App Store and Google Play simultaneously with the EES on October 12. We don’t know exactly how the app connects to the EES as it’s not yet been launched, but it’s supposed to speed up checks at the airport.

Switzerland

Lastly, Switzerland, a close EU partner and Schengen member state, is planning to enforce EES rules at its outer Schengen borders in two airports on October 12.

The airports are Basel (BSL), operated jointly with France, and Geneva (GVA). They will be followed by Zurich Airport (ZHR), Switzerland’s most important entry point, and other smaller airports from mid-November.

As other Schengen states surround it, Switzerland is not expected to enforce the Entry/Exit System at any land border. The full implementation across the Swiss airport network is scheduled to be finalized by April 2026.

Remaining European Countries

• Bulgaria is rumored to be starting its EES implementation along with most EU member states on October 12, as reported by several news outlets, but we were not able to find confirmation from Bulgarian officials on this matter
• Hungary is only introducing EES checks at its land borders with Ukraine on October 12, with an airport rollout set only for November 18
• Iceland has not confirmed whether Keflavík Airport (KEF) and Icelandic maritime ports are ready to start registering travelers under the new system on October 12
• The Netherlands is starting EES registration gradually at airports, train stations, and ports at different dates, but not immediately on October 12: in Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS), registration starts November 3. In Rotterdam, The Hague (RTM), it’s a little sooner, from October 27. At Eindhoven (EIN), November 3 is the start date. You can check EES launch dates for different access points here
• Poland is planning to make its EES debut at two checkpoints on the border with Ukraine on October 12. A launch date for airports has not yet been set
• Slovakia has stated they are ready to cooperate with the EU as the EES is introduced, but they have not confirmed they are ready to start registering passengers on October 12
• Ireland and Cyprus are not part of the Schengen Area, and thus, they are not expected to participate in the Entry/Exit System

If you’re flying to Europe this fall as a U.S. visitor, you should prepare for longer delays at the airport as newcomers get registered, and stricter passport checks as the European Union upgrades its border system.