EU phasing out passport stamps, replacing with new digital entry system

(KTLA) – The European Union will phase out physical passport stamps for most tourists on Nov. 10 when it launches the new Entry/Exit System, which will use a high-tech scanning process to digitally register non-EU visitors instead of using physical stamps.

"At every single airport, every single harbor, every single road into Europe, we will have digital border controls,” EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson said in a statement.  “When that happens, it will be goodbye to passport stamping, hello to digital checks.”

Under the new system, visitors entering the EU will have their fingerprints and faces scanned digitally upon entry. Those biometrics will be used to confirm a visitor’s entry and exit from the EU.

Border officers will cross-reference a person’s biometrics with their passport on the first visit, and the information will remain on file once the system is switched on.

To use the system, travelers will need a biometric passport, which the Department of Homeland Security has been offering since 2006.

Visitors to the EU who do not have a biometric passport will have to undergo more thorough processing at the border and will not be able to use self-service passport control kiosks.

The EU’s EES system is separate from the European Travel Information and Authorization System, which is for visa-exempt travelers who want to visit the EU for short-term stays.