The European Union activated its new border control model yesterday, Sunday, October 12, which will become operational gradually in European airports until it is fully operational, scheduled for April 10, 2026.
The EU's EES is a new automated IT system that will record the entries and exits into the Schengen Area of citizens of third countries, such as the United Kingdom, who are not part of this European agreement on the free movement of people.
Furthermore, this new digital registry will eliminate the requirement of stamping the passports of travelers entering or leaving European territory.
In Lanzarote, it will begin operating on November 12, Pedro Vieira, island director of the General State Administration, explained to La Voz.
Nationwide, it was tested yesterday with the passage of a flight that will land at the Madrid-Barajas-Adolfo Suárez airport first thing in the morning.
Asked if there had been a reinforcement of teams in preparation for the new system, Vieira believes that "the current team is sufficient to carry out border control tasks with the new system."
Vieira recalls that recently "there has been an increase of 11 officers at the National Police Station in Arrecife, plus a reinforcement from the BRIC, the brigade that responds to illegal immigration that comes from Madrid, which we consider sufficient for the control of people arriving from third countries."
The island director explains that the reinforcement is due both to speeding up the entry of tourists and to facing the new border control system.
Viera explains that the crowding that occurs at the Lanzarote airport "has to do with the design and infrastructure of the airport itself after Brexit. In an area of 400 square meters, around 240 incoming and 240 outgoing flights are received weekly, almost 60% more."
The director of the AGE on the island also believes that "agglomerations like the one that occurred on February 27 are related to the concentration of flights in a very short time. That day there were 16 flights in 65 minutes."
Spain invests 83 million euros in the new system
The Ministry of the Interior has made an investment of 83 million euros to adapt all Spanish border posts to the technical requirements of the EES. All land and air borders are now prepared to start operating with the new system.
The process has not yet concluded in the case of seaports because various port authorities have not yet closed the bidding and installation process for the infrastructure necessary to comply with the requirements of the new European border model.
During the six-month trial period of the EU's EES, its implementation at Spanish border posts will be gradual, starting with airports, followed by land borders in a second phase, and finally maritime borders.
The EES is an advanced technological system designed to record information about non-European travelers crossing the external borders of the Schengen Area. To do this, border posts are equipped with computer equipment that will scan the data on their passports, take their photo, and record their fingerprints and the date and place of entry or exit. In the event that national authorities deny entry, the system will also record this information.
Its gradual implementation means that border crossings will introduce the different elements of the EES in phases, so it is possible that travelers' biometric data (facial image and fingerprints) will not be collected immediately in all of them and that their personal information will not be recorded in the system.
During those six months, the EES will coexist with the traditional manual stamping of passports, which will disappear once the system is fully operational as of April 10, 2026, since it is a process that consumes a lot of time, does not provide reliable data on border crossings, and does not allow for the systematic detection of people who have exceeded the maximum duration of their authorized stay.
The EES will register travelers from non-EU third countries each time they cross an external border of any of the 29 European countries that are part of the Schengen Area to stay for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period.
If the traveler needs an entry visa, the system will only store their passport data and facial image, because their fingerprints were already recorded when they applied for the visa. If the traveler does not need a visa, the system will also collect four of their fingerprints.