With the summer travel season now underway and concerns mounting over potential congestion at tourist hotspots, the European Union's border agency, Frontex, has introduced a digital solution to assist with the Entry/Exit System (EES). The EES, which has been in a gradual rollout phase since October 12, 2025, and reached full operational status on April 10, 2026, replaces the traditional manual stamping of passports.
It functions by recording the entry and exit of all non-EU short-term visitors in a centralized database to better track overstayers.
However, the system requires biometric data, including facial images and fingerprints, to be captured by a guard during the first crossing into the Schengen area. This mandatory step has contributed to significant queues at busy border points, such as the port of Dover in the UK, leading travel organizations to warn that the situation could intensify throughout the summer.
To mitigate these delays, Frontex developed the Travel to Europe app in late 2024. This mobile tool allows non-EU travelers to pre-register their passport information, submit a facial image, and complete entry questionnaires within 72 hours of their departure.
While the app is designed to streamline the process, it does not replace official border checks. Furthermore, its deployment remains voluntary for Schengen area countries, which include EU member states—excluding Ireland and Cyprus—alongside Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Individual nations retain the discretion to choose which specific functionalities of the app they wish to implement.
Testing conducted at Stockholm Arlanda airport demonstrated that the app could improve procedural efficiency by 25 percent compared to standard EES checks. According to the European Commission, the app is now in use in Sweden, where it supports the full suite of features: passport data, facial image capture, and entry questionnaires.
In Portugal, the government announced in June that the app has been introduced at Lisbon Airport, though it currently supports only the entry questionnaire, with plans to expand to other locations in the near future.
Reports indicate that at least two additional countries are currently working on deploying the technology, though their identities have not yet been disclosed.
Industry bodies, including the Airport Council International (ACI) Europe, have urged the European Commission to prioritize the widespread adoption of the app to alleviate pressure at border controls. A spokesperson for ACI Europe emphasized that enabling passengers to pre-register before arriving at the airport would allow them to bypass the self-service kiosk registration stage, thereby significantly speeding up the process and preventing the formation of long queues.
Further guidance and information for travelers regarding the application are available on the official European Commission website.
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