Europe EES queue?

[SYD]

Re-entered the Schengen zone today via AGP. About 15mins from plane to baggage claim.

Unfortunately, arriving on a UK flight, hardly anyone was using the EU line.

The rest of us were required to line up for the kiosks. Having registered previously the kiosks said to go to the eGates. I suspect, but can’t be sure if I could have just done that?

It was a bit of a zoo at the eGates but it moved ok. We just had a photo check while others were finger printed.

 

[Forg]

Something of a segue from the thread topic ... but if the entire system hadn't been down & they hadn't had to resort to taking a 'photo of everyone and their passport, would we have had to go through a different process to prior (pre-2018) trips when arriving in Zurich (no connecting flight) from Hong Kong mid-June, like this fingerprinty stuff?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Something of a segue from the thread topic ... but if the entire system hadn't been down & they hadn't had to resort to taking a 'photo of everyone and their passport, would we have had to go through a different process to prior (pre-2018) trips when arriving in Zurich (no connecting flight) from Hong Kong mid-June, like this fingerprinty stuff?

Prior to EES you just turned up and maybe had to answer a question or two, or maybe not.

 

[Forg]

So is this difference for non-EU people arriving from within the EU?
Or non-Shengen people arriving in a Shengen-zone place from within the Shengen zone?
Or non-EU people arriving in a Shegen-zone place from inside the EU but outside the Shengen zone?
Or ... ?

The system being down means our arrival in Zurich from Hong Kong was unusual by any standards, so I'm just wondering what ESS would mean for me in future trips to Those Parts Of The World (I've never had fingerprints taken for example but have used electronic camera gates with my AU passport in Hong Kong and Heathrow airports now - can't remember whether customs getting on/off Eurostar in July were electronic/camera but think they were).

 

[SYD]

So is this difference for non-EU people arriving from within the EU?
Or non-Shengen people arriving in a Shengen-zone place from within the Shengen zone?
Or non-EU people arriving in a Shegen-zone place from inside the EU but outside the Shengen zone?
Or ... ?

The system being down means our arrival in Zurich from Hong Kong was unusual by any standards, so I'm just wondering what ESS would mean for me in future trips to Those Parts Of The World (I've never had fingerprints taken for example but have used electronic camera gates with my AU passport in Hong Kong and Heathrow airports now - can't remember whether customs getting on/off Eurostar in July were electronic/camera but think they were).

Within the Schengen zone, it’s basically the same as interstate Oz (regardless of flying train, bus, car or walking).

 

[Beer_budget]

Within the Schengen zone, it’s basically the same as interstate Oz (regardless of flying train, bus, car or walking).

Except on border crossings into Germany (at least by train) where they apparently sometimes board and check passports/ID. My Swiss Air Rail booking had a warning about delays for this reason, though our actual train was not checked.

 

[Cossie]

Except on border crossings into Germany (at least by train) where they apparently sometimes board and check passports/ID. My Swiss Air Rail booking had a warning about delays for this reason, though our actual train was not checked.

Last year I went to a wolrd rally championship round based in Passau, Germany. We were requested by the tour leaders to have our passports or identity documents with us as the rally ran in Germany, Austria and the Czech Rep and it maybe required to stop and show them. We didn't have to though.

 

[Forg]

It was recommended to us that we make sure our passports were in easy reach on the train from Switzerland to France & the one from France to Belgium, in June. Never needed by us, but apparently checks do occur.

 

[SYD]

Except on border crossings into Germany (at least by train) where they apparently sometimes board and check passports/ID. My Swiss Air Rail booking had a warning about delays for this reason, though our actual train was not checked.

But that’s not entering/leaving the Schengen zone. Just looking for illegals.

As Australians, we’re not used to having to carry ID everywhere - but some countries actually require you to have your PP with you or readily available.

Heading to Europe? You Might Be Required to Carry ID

There isn't a "universal" policy in the European Union or the Schengen area that states its visitors have to carry identification at all times. The rule is

insurte.com

I assume moving forward those checks will be able scan your PP since there’s no “In” stamp anymore.

 

[Swaussie]

I strongly recommend looking up scheduled arrivals before your own arrival (or use an LLM to do the hard work). For instance, I was looking at an early morning arrival into CPH, but then found that there were five long-hauls arriving in the preceding hour, so that means 1000+ pax needing to clear immigration around the same time, with a presumably large proportion needing to do EES registration, so I decided against that flight. Who knows what it would actually end up being like, but for an airport that managed the introduction of EES processing badly, it's a risk I prefer to obviate.

I was at FCO at the start of August. Clown fiesta at 22:00. Apparently at 20:00 it was ok on the same day.

Took us 1.5h to get through because they shut down egates and the signage was terrible.

But according to other reports on FT, it was reasonably fine at 20:00 on the same day.

We arrived 26 August on QF 5 at 6 am in the morning. My hubby on an Australian passport was through in no time. I, on a Swiss passport, had to queue for 5 mins to have my passport handled by a border official. Overall, very smooth and way before the luggage arrived.