The European Commission confirmed on July 27 that the Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational for more than three months and has already logged over 145 million border crossings. The biometric system—now in force at all Italian sea, land and airport frontiers—automatically records the fingerprints, facial image, and travel-document data of third-country nationals on every entry and exit, replacing manual passport stamps. While most business travellers from non-EU countries are now subject to mandatory fingerprint and facial scans, the Commission’s latest guidance clarifies a series of important exemptions. Holders of Italian (or other EU/EEA/Swiss) residence permits or long-stay “D” visas remain outside the scope of EES; so do family members of EU citizens who possess a residence card, and nationals of micro-states such as Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and the Vatican. These travellers will continue to undergo traditional ID checks without biometric enrolment. For employers managing assignees and commuters with Italian permessi di soggiorno, the exemption means that cross-border movements will not count toward short-stay limits and will not trigger EES over-stay alerts. However, HR teams should remind dependants without residence cards that they are not exempt and must be prepared for biometric capture. The Commission also noted that member states may temporarily suspend fingerprint collection in peak-season bottlenecks, but facial images remain mandatory. Italy has so far used the flexibility only in a handful of regional airports and ferry ports during the June holiday rush; companies should monitor airport advisories during the August exodus. Looking ahead, the EU’s ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme—originally planned to follow EES—has been postponed to May 2027. Businesses should therefore keep onboarding non-exempt travellers into the new system and update privacy notices, as biometric retention will run for three years after the last exit record.
