This November, a new control system for non-EU citizens who want to access a country in the Schengen area of the European Union will come into force in Spain. This mechanism consists of an automatic computer registration of the arrivals and departures of passengers from non-EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, who stay in Europe for a short period of time. This is explained by the Union on its official website.
The objective of this initiative is none other than to "modernize" the management of the external borders of the European Union and "replace passport stamping", which is causing so many headaches in Lanzarote.
This measure clashes head-on with the border situation that the Lanzarote Airport is going through, where an agent of the National Police reported to a Court of Arrecife that the Border Post allegedly spent three years without stamping the passports of travelers from third countries due to lack of personnel, leaving a security gap and against community regulations.
As of the end of June this year, as required by law since 2018 and after the complaint, the passports of British citizens arriving in Lanzarote began to be stamped. The current situation, given the lack of police officers, has caused long queues at border controls, as some travelers have told La Voz. This situation is not new and already in 2011, there was a warning about the problems of traveler control at the aerodrome, where sometimes the control had to be opened to non-EU citizens due to the lack of National Police officers.
Currently, this reality has already reached the British tabloids, which warn of a situation of "chaos" in the César Manrique and the loss of flights of some passengers for this reason. However, as La Voz has learned, the orders are to continue implementing passport stamping until the entry into force of the new Entry/Exit System, on November 10.
To carry out this registration, as already happens for example to enter the United Kingdom, "electronic records and biometric data" will be used, such as facial recognition or the use of fingerprints. Thus, it seeks to facilitate the identification of "people who stay longer than allowed" in a territory and provides "accurate data on entries, exits and refusals."
According to Juan Carlos Fuentes, representative of the police union Equiparación Salarial Ya, at the Lanzarote Airport there are eight to ten officials who have Border training, while the rest of the vacancies are filled by other agents who are not specialized in the area. According to his testimony, in recent weeks the General Directorate of the National Police has taken out extraordinary services with 30 more agents each week to make up for these shortcomings. In addition to this, there are the police officers of the Brigade for Response to Clandestine Immigration who have moved from Madrid.
Despite efforts to cover passport stamping, this agent warns that with "the entry of the Entry/Exit System within two months, the waiting time may double up to two hours, because you have to register with fingerprint and photographs upon entering the island." In addition, he warns that from the Airport "they are trying to comply with the implementation of the EES but the departures are not yet controlled."
