We go to France by car at the end of October. This will be our first trip abroad for some while and I sense I am a little out of the loop.
If you have arrived at Saint-Malo by overnight ferry from Portsmouth recently I'd appreciate some info about the current procedure in place. EES apparently does not happen until you disembark.
Are the French authorities (bless their little cotton socks - they love their bureaucratie) spending hours walking up and down queues of UK cars in all weathers, fingerprinting and scanning the occupants of every vehicle, before eventually allowing them on their way?
Or are they being a little more sensible?
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It's normal for immigration formalities to be dealt with on arrival. The juxtaposed controls at Dover and Calais/Dunkerque are exceptions.
All things equal I'd expect EES to be in use unless there is some easement.
A quick Google suggests they're applied at St Malo.
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I am more concerned about lengthy delays. I accept there will be some form of entry recording, but hoping it will be minimal.
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It's hard to predict. I only have experience of airports rather than sea ports but they will likely be following procedures and fingerprinting etc, unless for some reason they have dispensation.
I've been fingerprinted and scanned 4 times on entry to Portugal since last Nov. I think mainly because the e-gates have never been working, so you end up in the same queue as those who haven't.
How long it takes probably depends on whether there have been any other UK flights just in front, and how many booths they have open for fingerprinting.
The April exit from Portugal was by far the slowest, again the e-gates were out and only 1 chap on the booths for much of the time. I think it was almost 2 hours but it saved me the cost of a meal once we were through as we didn't have time before boarding!!
Remember we voted for it!! :-)
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Hard to predict at all entry points.
I arrived Santander Monday slightly delayed due to an onboard medical emergency..French military helicopter medivac in BoB, then ship doors went tech, then EES went tech at our booth (16 booths processing arrivals).
Two hours late overall but such is life.
Cyprus ( non schengen) earlier this month took 15 minutes.
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Dover when we go through ( and Calais on return) are quick
Flew to Ancona Tuesday and ees was fine. 3 minutes after being directed to the non Schengen queue.
Took a minute longer as he didn't like the position of my head relative to the eye scanner so came out of the booth and positioned me....
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Last ferry to France other than on Dover/Calais was to Caen Oustreham last year but that was before EES was in service.
Searching suggests Caen uses tablets to register non EU arrivals. Some delay but not gross. They were already scanning passports and stamping them anyway.
Been registered in EES at both Tenerife and Madeira airports. On both occasions the self help machines struggled with my fingerprints. At Madeira was sent to an attended kiosk where with human assistance fingerprints were successfully gathered.
Exiting a week later a quick self service scan was all it took.
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I had my first experience travelling within the Schengen area when we flew from Nice to Palma couple weeks back.
Walking through the Palma terminal, the same area where folk are waiting to board their planes, past the shops etc heading for exit expecting to have to go through passport control at some point, and just walking straight out into the sunshine!
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We and everybody else were scanned and fingerprinted in kiosks Santander on arrival from Plymouth on 16/9. It added at least an hour to exiting the port.
About 10%-20% of the returning boatload on 2/10 were fully scanned again on the way out. And there were long queues at Plymouth on the way back for the usual British entry check . Again about an hour for those not among the first off which included us.
Not sure what will happen differently after 12th October. We already have biometric passports. Be prepared for some delay is my suggestion.
The return trip (Pont Aven both ways) was delayed over 2 hours due to a medevac on the incoming leg. It was going like the clappers on the way back, about 25 knots for a time, and was a fairly rough ride despite there only being an amber weather warning. I went to bed at 8pm and stayed there for 12 hours. I think I might have done my last run across the BoB!
I'm certainly not doing Plymouth again. We docked around 12.45, an hour and a half late, and got out of the port around 2. It took an hour from then to get out of Plymouth due to traffic.
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I suppose this entry and exit will become easier as time goes on and more people have been "done" but my experience so far is that despite that, I have still had to visit a person nearly every time I've entered and exited, queueing or varying lengths of time, because gates weren't working, or there was no-one and no signage guiding you to not queue if you've been done, or the gate simply didn't recognise my biometrics.
They must have put millions through by now and have had loads of opportunity to iron out these obvious teething and somewhat predictable problems.
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They must have put millions through by now and have had loads of opportunity to iron out these obvious teething and somewhat predictable problems.
Arrived into Ancona Tuesday... eye scanner camera didn't like me... agent came out and held my head in the position he wanted. .. No prints.. 3 minutes
Leaving Forli sat pm eyes and prints 2 minutes.
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Given that the most of the rest of the world (including the UK) already captures biometric data for non nationals arriving at their borders I don’t really understand how the EU have managed to make such a hash of it. Only a couple of EU countries make any attempt to capture key data online in advance of travel, despite that also being a relatively normal process for other countries. I read in todays papers that shortly passports become unnecessary (as in taking out the physical document) when entering the UK as a national becuase it’ll be entirely done by facial recognition. And already when I enter the UK with a non British passport holder into LHR or LGW it’s 50:50 as to which of us gets though passport control first. Yet enter the EU and you’re back in the 1970s, with queues much of the time.
Having said that, leaving Marseille last week via the e-gates was seamless, so clearly it can be done in the EU, and indeed France. But for some reason it’s incredibly inconsistent :(
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I’m due to arrive Plymouth not on the usual PA but on the Armorique @ 15:00 on 3 November.
Call me a wuss but I won’t be driving 335 miles home that evening…probably dark by the time I exit the docks, rush hour and raining.
An hour or so up the A38/M5 then a pub with good beer for an early nights B & B.
Home in time for Plot Night ( if not already overdosed on fireworks in Spain).
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The EU problems with EES is not with "The System"
There are some 29 variations
The heart of the system was sub-contracted to several suppliers - that actually seems to work.
The problems stem from the 29 countries ordering their own hardware, using locally supplied software etc etc
Integrating 29 flavours of Scanning, Gates, Networking with the Central System is a "Whack a Mole" Fix one country's problem that brought the Central System down and another pops up soon after!
Totally to be expected - it worked on paper and ignored the obvious problems.
A more practical solution would have been to have the system developed from day 1.
1 x Language (English) used and distributed to the 29 countries to run on common hardware.
Brussels would have had difficulties with the need for Universal English
The St Pancras Scanning Terminals etc etc have been installed HOWEVER they have not worked due to networking problems in France.
C'est la vie en EU
30 years ago I sold software - the company software could run on Unix or Windows.
The Unix box might be £30K-50K and a Windows Server £5K. The Unix server might have had an issue once a year and require attention, many ran 5 years hardly blinking. A Unix box required a "Unix Guru" to sort matters out. They were recommended 3/4 Hardware suppliers.
The Windows Servers were up & down, especially when the regular Windows version upgrades were installed. Likewise the customer was told to buy 3/4 Suppliers of Servers, but many bought their favourite supplier (cheapest they could buy) and suffered even more issues!
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Last June we went out Plymouth-Roscoff and returned 13 days later St Malo-Poole.
No EES for any crossing, on exit, or entry!
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>> Last June we went out Plymouth-Roscoff and returned 13 days later St Malo-Poole.
>> No EES for any crossing, on exit, or entry!
2025 or 2026?
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EES?
Entry Exit System.
Fingerprints and photo each time on entry/exit (when it works)
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EES upon arrival by ferry at Saint-Malo - Bromptonaut
