Just three months after the European Union switched on its long-awaited Entry/Exit System (EES), the European Commission on 27 July released detailed guidance explaining exactly which travellers do—and do not—have to queue at the new biometric kiosks. Under EES, non-EU nationals must have their fingerprints and a facial photograph captured the first time they cross an external Schengen border, replacing the old passport-stamp regime. The regulation applies at all German airports and land borders because Germany is both a Schengen exterior (air‐ and seaports) and interior (land) frontier state. Airlines, airports and mobility managers have complained that uncertainty over exemptions was one of the main causes of the long queues that built up in Frankfurt and Munich when the system went live in April. The Commission’s notice confirms that third-country family members of EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norwegian and Swiss citizens who already hold an EU residence card or permit are fully exempt from EES registration—even if they travel without the EU family member. Diplomats, holders of German national visas, refugees recognised under the Geneva Convention and cabin crew on duty are likewise spared the biometric capture. By contrast, business travellers who carry only a Schengen C-visa must still enrol, even if they hold frequent-traveller cards such as Lufthansa HON Circle. For German corporates the clarification matters. Companies that routinely fly Ukrainian or Indian assignees in and out of Frankfurt on D-visas can now remove the extra 15–20 minutes they had built into their travel policies for EES registration. Mobility teams should, however, update pre-trip briefings for contractors on C-visas, who remain subject to the new checks. German border police (Bundespolizei) welcomed the guidance, saying it will allow frontline officers to ‘filter exempt categories far more quickly and keep the queues moving’. Frankfurt Airport told Global Mobility News it expects wait times for “known-traveller” lanes to fall below ten minutes once the exemptions are programmed into airline departure control systems next week. Practical tip: HR should add the Commission link to their travel intranet and advise exempt staff to carry proof of residence (eAT card, Aufenthaltstitel or Fiktionsbescheinigung) along with the passport to avoid confusion at automated gates.
