Frontex: EU border queues could last up to two years
A Frontex official has admitted the new system may take a year or two to settle, and the temporary suspension of biometrics will not run past September. Here is what it means for travellers from Serbia.
- Frontex expects the EES system to stabilise in one to two years, because the first registration is the hardest part.
- The temporary suspension of biometrics will not be extended past September, just as traffic peaks.
- Horgos suffered a full breakdown on June 7, with kilometres of queues and up to six hours of waiting at freight terminals.
- ETIAS, which will also apply to Serbian citizens, is expected by the end of 2026 with a 20 euro fee.
Will the queues at the EU border ease any time soon? They will not, and now we know it firsthand. Frontex deputy executive director Uku Sarekano said in London on June 10 that he expects the system to settle only in a year or two, because, as he put it, the first registration of travellers is the hardest part of the job.
A quick reminder: this is about EES, the new European entry-exit system that since this spring scans the fingerprints and face of every non-EU traveller at the external border. After our June 4 piece on the first queues, several new details have arrived that change the maths for anyone planning a trip toward Hungary or further into Europe this summer.
The most important point is this. Frontex does not plan to extend the option of temporarily suspending biometrics during the peak. They hope for improvement by September, but the legal framework, as a European Commission spokesperson stressed, does not provide a blanket exemption for citizens of certain third countries over a longer period. In plain terms, we are spending the summer with full scanning at most crossings.
Let us separate the confirmed from the estimates right away. What is confirmed to have happened: Horgos suffered a full breakdown at the exit toward Hungary on June 7, according to the Serbian motoring association, with kilometres of queues and delays at Batrovci and Sid. At freight terminals that same day there were waits of up to six hours at the Bezdan exit, around four hours at Batrovci and around two at Sid. The estimate, on the other hand, is what Frontex says about the one to two year horizon. That is their expectation, not a guarantee.
What is happening at airports and with the app?
The queues are not only on the road. At major airports, waits ran from two to four hours on June 9, and the worst was at Paris Charles de Gaulle. The reason is simple: the passport check per passenger has risen from about 20 to about 90 seconds since fingerprints and faces started being scanned. Multiply that by a few hundred people in line and you get the picture.
Some countries are already finding their own way out. Italy has used a decree to allow a return to stamps when queues exceed 45 minutes. Portugal is suspending biometrics on exit. Greece, for now, has no exemption in force for British tourists. So the picture is uneven from one crossing to the next.
And the app that was supposed to save the day? The official Travel to Europe pre-registration app currently works only in Sweden and partly in Portugal. There is a catch: fingerprints are still always scanned at the border, the app only fills in the data in advance. Hungary has merely expressed interest, which means that for a trip toward Horgos the app does not help in the slightest yet.
How do you get through this summer with the least stress?
Here are a few practical, step by step tips if you cannot postpone your trip to Europe.
First, choose your timing. Weekdays and overnight hours are far emptier than weekends and early mornings. If you can leave around two or three in the morning, you gain the most.
Second, count on alternative crossings toward Hungary. Besides Horgos, there are Kelebija, Backi Vinogradi and Horgos II, which operate 24 hours. When the main crossing seizes up, the others usually relieve part of the traffic.
Third, know that your first crossing of the season is the slowest. The first registration of fingerprints and face takes the longest, after that the system already has you on file and moves faster.
Fourth, if you are a professional driver, expect waits of four to six hours at freight terminals. Serbia has previously submitted proposals to the European Commission for a special status for professional drivers, but no solution has been reached yet, so for now rely on your own schedule, not on an exemption.
Fifth, do not get ETIAS yet. That electronic authorisation comes only after the full rollout of EES, it is expected by the end of 2026 with a 20 euro fee, and it will be mandatory for Serbian citizens too once it goes live. Until then you do not need it, so do not pay anything suspicious that offers it to you in advance.
Our recommendation is simple: plan as if you will spend at least an hour more at the border than before, bring water and patience, and do not rely on the app for a trip toward Hungary. By all accounts, the system will keep learning to work for a long while yet.
And we ask you: how long did you wait at Horgos last time, and have you already tried one of the alternative crossings?
