EU Ends Fingerprint Exemption at Croatia Border
The European Commission did not extend flexible use of the EES system, so travelers from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro now face longer waits entering Croatia and the Schengen area.
Starting today, September 6, travelers from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro heading toward Croatia and on into the European Union may once again run into longer lines at border crossings. The reason is a deadline that has now passed for the so called flexible application of the Entry/Exit System, better known by its acronym EES, which the European Commission introduced over the summer to ease congestion and chose not to extend. For the region this is a direct concern, since the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia is one of the main routes into the Union, and the same rule now applies at the Serbian and Montenegrin crossings into Croatia as well.
The window in which member states were allowed to temporarily loosen or fully suspend part of the biometric checks, whenever long queues built up at crossings, expired today, and the European Commission did not extend that option. According to the Commission, the system has been fully operational at the external borders of the Schengen area since April 10, 2026. Instead of the old passport stamp, EES digitally logs every entry and exit, along with a facial photo and all four fingerprints of the traveler. It covers citizens of non-EU countries who do not hold regulated residence in the Union, for stays of up to 90 days within any 180 day period. Registering in the system is not a visa and carries no fee.
How many travelers have been registered so far
By the end of July, the European Commission had reported more than 145 million registered entries and exits, and by early August that number had passed 150 million. The Commission points to this figure in defending the system as a security benefit, arguing it allows more precise tracking of who enters and leaves the Schengen area and makes it easier to detect overstays. The cost of that precision is longer lines wherever the equipment and staff at a given crossing cannot keep pace with traffic volume.
The International Air Transport Association, IATA, together with the British travel association ABTA, had asked for the flexible application to be kept in place through the end of 2026, warning that the longer checks over the summer had already caused missed flights and connections. According to figures from airline industry groups, the number of missed flight connections during the summer season doubled compared with the period before the system was introduced. The Guardian reported, citing several informed sources, that certain member states will not fully apply the biometric checks even after today’s deadline, even though the Commission has not formally approved any further delay.
Uneven readiness of the infrastructure is not only a problem in the south of the continent. In Dover, at Eurostar’s London St Pancras station, and at the Eurotunnel, the fingerprint kiosks procured for the purpose are still not working, so Eurostar passengers continue to be registered manually, while car drivers passing through Dover are, for now, not subject to EES checks at all. The European Commission has said it is in contact with several member states that need additional technical and operational adjustments at particular crossings and that it stands ready to support them during this period, but it has not given a date by which those adjustments should be complete.
Why the border with Croatia is the most sensitive for the region
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Border Police warned back in June that three temporary international crossings toward Croatia, Vinica, Subasici, and Vir, lack the technical setup to process travelers under EES. Citizens of non-EU countries, including Bosnian citizens without regulated residence in the Union, therefore cannot register at those crossings and are directed to other border points where the technical conditions exist, which further extends the trip and the waiting time. The Croatian Auto Club says EES is being applied at the crossings toward Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro, with four fingerprints and a facial photo taken for every traveler the system covers, including at the Batrovci crossing on the way to Zagreb.
For travelers from the region, the practical consequence is simple: the first crossing after registration will take longer than before, since the biometric data collected there remains valid for the next three years. Only after that first registration should checks speed up, according to the explanation given by the EU Delegation, since the traveler’s data is already in the system. Until then, the heaviest pressure will keep falling on the crossings between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which already see the longest lines from the region every summer regardless of EES.
The European Commission has not announced a new date for a possible return of the flexible application, nor a deadline by which it expects every border crossing to be technically ready for the full scope of EES checks.
