French authorities have announced their intention to postpone the implementation of the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) until after the 2024 Olympics.
The Paris Olympics take place from July 26 until August 11 next year – this means that the EES will only be implemented in the second half of next year.
The new border system was developed for the purpose of protecting the Schengen area and tightening checks on third-country nationals. It will apply to all non-EU nationals travelling to the area, whether or not they fall under the visa exemption programme.
The system will use fingerprints and facial recognition to create a biometric profile for these travellers.
This is expected to lead to border delays, especially during the initial period of registrations, and this is the main motivation behind France’s delay in introducing it.
According to SchengenVisaInfo, French authorities want the postponement of EES to avoid delays at border crossings from the UK and to avert possible chaos at airports because of the large number of third-country nationals expected to travel to France for the event.
