British tourists visiting Portugal this year have been issued a travel warning from the UK Foreign Office as immigration rules are being changed.
The new Entry/Exit System (EES) is scheduled to begin in European countries from October 2025, with British villas being required to register fingerprints and face photos upon arrival. The EES applies to all non-EU citizens when visiting 29 countries in the Schengen region, including Portugal. The system was originally scheduled to be launched last year, but has been delayed and is set to be released in October, replacing the system that manually stamps current passports into biometric data instead. The UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice for Portugal before the new system was introduced. British tourists have warned that the system is expected to start in October.
“The EU is planning to implement an Entry/Exit System (EES), a new digital border system that will change the requirements for UK citizens traveling to the Schengen region.
“If you are traveling to a country in the Schengen region using your UK passport, you will need to register biometric details such as fingerprints and photos upon arrival. EES registration replaces the current system of manually stamping your passport when a visitor arrives in the EU.
“EES is scheduled to begin in October 2025. It is not currently operating. The European Union will notify you of specific EES launch dates prior to launch.”
Once EES is introduced, HolidayMaker will need to create a digital record on arrival on its first visit to the port or airport's Schengen area.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that there may be a long queue upon arrival in Portugal as the EES registration is complete, but it says tourists do not need to provide information before traveling to the Schengen area.
EES Digital Records will remain valid for three years, so if you visit the Schengen area again during this period, you will simply have to enter and provide your fingerprint or photo at the border upon exit.
The new system is designed to improve border security in the EU and its neighbors by stopping visitors from staying too much and reducing illegal transitions within the Schengen region.
For EES purposes, “non-EU national” means travelers who do not hold nationalities of the European Union or nationalities of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, and “short-term stay” means up to 90 days within 180 days. This period is calculated as a single period in all European countries using EE.
Entries and exits, or rejections of entries, are registered electronically in EES, but in Cyprus and Ireland, passports are still manually engraved, despite being an EU country.
