The Entry/Exit System is live: what it means for your 90 days
Since 10 April 2026, the EU’s Entry/Exit System records every short stay and counts your 90/180 days automatically. What it records, and how to check.
For decades, the only record of a short stay in Europe was the ink in your passport, and counting your 90 days meant squinting at smudged stamps. That has changed. The EU’s Entry/Exit System, the EES, now records every entry and exit of non-EU visitors electronically, and it does the 90/180 sum by itself.
Since 10 April 2026, the EES has been fully running at the external borders of the 29 Schengen countries. It replaces passport stamps, records your face and fingerprints, and calculates how many days you have left. The rule itself hasn’t changed: it’s still 90 days in any 180. What has changed is that an overstay is now detected automatically.
What the EES is
“The EES applies to non-EU nationals travelling for a short stay to the Schengen area and records travel document data, biometric data (fingerprints and facial image) and data on their entry and exit. Nationals of EU countries and of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland are not registered in the EES.”
It was introduced gradually from October 2025 and has been “fully operational at all external Schengen border crossing points since 10 April 2026”. By late July it had registered over 145 million entries and exits.
From stamps to records
The EU’s own FAQ: “As of 10 April 2026, when the progressive period ends, the manual stamping of passports will be abolished. At that time the automated calculator and the list of overstayers will start functioning.”
The FAQ is equally clear that the rule is the same: “The implementation of the EES changes nothing to the rules on short stays: these rules are harmonised in the Schengen Borders Code and allow periods of stay for 90 days in any 180 days.” If you need a refresher on how that count works, read The Schengen 90/180 rule, explained day by day.
What it records about you
According to the EU, the EES “collects, records and stores”:
- the data in your travel document, such as your full name and date of birth,
- the date and place of each entry and exit,
- your facial image and fingerprints (if you hold a short-stay visa, your fingerprints are already in the Visa Information System), and
- whether you were refused entry.
If you refuse to give your fingerprints or have your photo taken, you “will be denied entry”. Fingerprints aren’t taken from children under 12.
Who isn’t registered
The Commission lists several groups the EES doesn’t record, including:
- citizens of EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland,
- nationals of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, and holders of a passport issued by the Vatican City State or the Holy See,
- non-EU nationals holding a long-stay visa or residence permit issued by a country that uses the EES (but those issued by Cyprus or Ireland are registered), and
- non-EU family members of EU, EEA or Swiss citizens who hold a residence card or residence permit.
The full list is on the EES website.
How to check your remaining days
The EU now offers an official online tool, on the Travel to Europe website, that tells you whether your entry is allowed and “the number of days that you are still allowed to stay”. You give it the country you’re visiting, your travel document’s type, number and issuing country, and your dates: the day you’ll arrive, the day you’ll leave, or both. You can also ask the border officers, and some border crossings have equipment for checking yourself.
Stays from before 10 April 2026 aren’t in its count. The EU warns that the remaining stay “does NOT reflect any time spent in the Schengen area that began before 10 April 2026, regardless of whether the visit ended before or continued after that date.” If you were in the area around that date, do that part of the count yourself.
Why keep your own count anyway
- Planning. The tool answers one trip at a time. If you’re fitting several trips into a year, you need the whole plan in one place.
- Older stays. Anything that began before 10 April 2026 isn’t in the system’s count.
- Checking the record. Systems make mistakes too. If the EES has a date wrong, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected, and your own record is your evidence.
If you overstay
The system flags it automatically: “If you stay longer than permitted, you will be identified as an ‘overstayer’ and your data will automatically be added to a list.” Passport control officers, immigration officers and visa staff can see that list. What happens next depends on the country, and the EU gives examples: “you may be removed from the territory; you may be subject to administrative fines or detention; you may be prevented from re-entering the EU in the future.”
There is a safety valve for genuine emergencies. If you overstayed because of “unforeseeable or mitigating circumstances (e.g. hospitalisation due to a serious injury)” and give the authorities credible evidence, “your data can be amended in the system and you can be removed from the list.”
Your data: how long it’s kept, and your rights
- Records of entries, exits and refusals of entry are kept for 3 years.
- If no exit is recorded, your data is kept for 5 years from the end of your authorised stay.
- You can ask for access to your data, ask for inaccurate data to be corrected, and ask for unlawfully processed data to be erased, through the data controller or data protection officer in any country using the EES.
The EES is not ETIAS
ETIAS is a separate travel authorisation that visa-free travellers will need before they travel, for the Schengen area and Cyprus. On the date we checked, the EU said: “ETIAS is currently not in operation and no applications for travel authorisations are collected at this point.” It is scheduled for the last quarter of 2026, and the EU will announce the start date in advance. When it starts, the application fee will be EUR 20, and an approved authorisation will be valid for three years or until your passport expires. Until then, be wary of websites offering to sell you one.
Questions people ask
Do I need to register for the EES before I travel?
No. You register at the border. Some countries let you pre-register up to 72 hours before you arrive using the official Travel to Europe app, which can speed up the check.
Will my passport still be stamped?
No. Manual stamping ended on 10 April 2026 for travellers registered in the EES.
Does the EES count my days across all Schengen countries together?
Yes. “The period of 90 days in any 180 days is calculated as a single period for all the European countries using the EES.”
Does the EES apply if I live in a Schengen country?
Not if you hold a residence permit or long-stay visa from a country that uses the EES.
Sources
- European Commission: The Entry Exit System is fully operational since 10 April 2026. Who is exempt?
- European Commission: Main differences between the EES and ETIAS
- Travel to Europe: FAQs about the EES
- Travel to Europe: Check how long you can stay
- Travel to Europe: Data held by the EES
- Travel to Europe: ETIAS
We last checked these sources on 5 October 2026.
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