New EES border system at Swiss airports causes longer waits for passengers

The European biometric registrations scheme, the Entry/Exit System (EES), has been causing major delays at Swiss airports.

The system is intended for travellers from outside Schengen – that is, nationals of countries other than those in the EU or EFTA (Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein).

For them, entering the Schengen zone through Switzerland (as through any other member country, for that matter) involves undergoing a digital border control process which checks their identity and registers their arrival.

They need to have their passport scanned, and have their face photographed as well as provide four fingerprints at a kiosk intended for this purpose at Switzerland’s three international airports: Zurich, Geneva, and Basel.

The system works the same way throughout the entire Schengen zone.

READ MORE: Travel to Switzerland: Your questions answered about EES and ETIAS

If this is your case, arm yourself with patience

A spokesperson for Zurich Airport reported that wait times in EES-bound queues sometimes exceed an hour.

In Geneva, the Federal Office of Customs and Border Security (BAZG), which is responsible for passport controls, said the EES system is generally working well, though waiting times have increased. 

Why are wait times so long?

This can be explained by the registration process at the kiosks for the first entry of non-EU/EFTA tourists into Schengen territory.

This data collection – which takes longer than just breezing through the immigration control for Swiss and EU/EFTA citizens – is more time consuming, especially when several planes from outside Schengen arrive at the same time.

However, citizens of third-country states (including the UK and the US) who have residency permits in Switzerland don’t have to pass through the EES system.

Déjà-vu

This is not the first time long queues have formed at EES kiosks in Swiss airports.

Bottlenecks were reported at Geneva airport in February, peak ski season in Switzerland, when scores of non-EU/EFTA foreigners, particularly from the UK, “have sometimes had to wait up to two and a half hours to enter the country," according to reports by public broadcaster RTS.

Will queues and wait times get longer?

While Swiss airports have not commented on this to date, given that the peak summer travel season is soon upon us, it is a legitimate expectation that arrival processes for non-EU/EFTA nationals entering the Schengen space via Switzerland will indeed lengthen.