One of the stated aims of the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is to catch over-stayers, especially those who have over-stayed their 90-day allowance – here’s a look at what changes for those who currently travel visa-free to Europe.
“This system will strengthen security… by helping us identify over-stayers, prevent irregular movements, and reduce document and identity fraud,” Magnus Brunner, the EU commissioner for migration, said on Wednesday as he confirmed the EES start date of October 12th, 2025.
90-day rule
When travelling into the EU/Schengen zone, some travellers benefit from a visa-free travel allowance of 90 days in every 180.
This doesn’t apply to all travellers, some people need a visa even for short visits, but citizens of countries including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Japan are allowed to spend 90 days in the EU in every 180 without needing a visa. You can find the full list of 90-day countries here.
This travel allowance is intended for business trips, holidays, family visits and other short stays – it’s not for people moving to an EU country, or for those who are working (with the exception of short business trips, conferences and other professional visits). You can find a full explanation of how it works HERE.
The rule has been in place for decades for non-EU citizens, but has only applied to Brits since Brexit.Â
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For most tourists 90 days in every 180 is more than enough, but other visitors use their full allowance – especially second-home owners who often make multiple trips in a year. For these people keeping track of the 90 days is important, and various online calculators or calendars have sprung up to help people keep track.
Over-staying the 90 day allowance is an immigration offence and can be punishable by fines or a ban on re-entering the EU or Schengen zone.
So how does EES affect this?Â
The Entry & Exit System is essentially an enhanced passport check that has two main purposes; making ID checks more secure by adding biometrics and tightening up on over-stayers.
The 90-day rule itself remains unchanged, but EES is likely to make it significantly harder to ‘slip through the cracks’ and stay for longer than 90 days in every 180.
The system does away with the current and rather haphazard manual stamping of passports, and instead introduces a digital system that automatically calculates how long the person has been in the EU, based on their previous entry and exit data. It then calculates whether the person has spent more than 90 days in the Bloc during the previous six months (180 days).
Over-stayers will therefore automatically be flagged when they try and leave.
The system should – if it works as intended – mean that it’s basically impossible to over-stay without being detected.
On the other hand it should also eliminate the confusion that is sometimes caused by the current system – for example if people have their passport stamped on arrival but not on exit, or those who end up with illegible stamps, or whose passports are stamped in error.
In theory, this should be good news for the vast majority of 90-day visitors who play by the rules and carefully stay within the limits.
It should also end the differences between countries that strictly enforce the 90 rule, and those who take a more laissez-faire attitude.
What about residents of an EU country? Â
Non-EU citizens who live in an EU or Schengen zone country with a residency permit are not required to use EES (since they are not bound by the 90-day rule and can stay for as long as their residency permit is valid). Likewise, anyone in an EU country on a long-stay visa – eg a visitor visa, student visa or working visa – is not required to use EES.
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Residents and visa holders instead pass through the manned passport booth, showing their passport and visa/residency permit.
However residents are still, in theory, bound by the 90-day rule when visiting another part of the EU.
For example an American resident in France could only visit Italy for 90 days out of every 180. Likewise a Brit living in Sweden would be limited to 90 days in every 180 for holidays in other EU countries.
Exactly how this will be enforced, however, is not clear, since residents are not required to use EES.
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In truth, this rule has always been more theoretical anyway, since travel within the EU and Schengen zone is largely paperwork free with minimal formalities at internal borders.
EES is used only at the EU’s external borders – for example the UK-France border or a flight from Canada to Spain – so it would not affect travel within the Bloc.
An EU resident arriving into the Schengen zone via a different country – for example a British resident of France travelling from the UK to Spain –Â would show their French residency permit at the Spanish border.Â
Remember, this article is only about EES. The EU’s other big travel change – ETIAS – also affects the 90-day rule. You can find a full explanation of both EES and ETIAS here, plus our Frequently Asked Questions section here.
