Brits Warned to Brace for Amsterdam, Tenerife and Paris Queues
British nationals will likely be unable to use the e-gates upon their first visit to the Schengen area since October 12 because they need to register through EES at the police booths where dedicated kiosks are unavailable.
In December 2024, UK airports saw 11.3 million passengers fly to and from the 29 European countries that now require non-EU travellers, including British nationals, to register for the new Entry-Exit System (EES) at the first Schengen border they cross. Brits travelling to Europe around the Christmas holidays will likely experience queues upon landing in Amsterdam, Tenerife Sur Reina Sofía, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Geneva and Alicante – the UK’s most-visited Schengen airports last December.
This is according to a new study from Amigo eSIM , an international digital SIM card provider, which analysed December 2024 passenger traffic data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The researchers also evaluated passenger arrivals data from the Home Office from December 2024 and January 2025 to estimate what proportion of travellers are British nationals going abroad during the winter holidays, therefore being subject to EES registration if they travel to a Schengen country.
AmsterdamAirport Schiphol in the Netherlands is the most-affected European airport when it comes to managing queues of UK travellers registering for EES. Last December, 739,609 UK passengers arrived at or departed from Amsterdam, or 6.55% of all passengers going through a UK airport that month. Most of them (130,477) travelled via LondonHeathrow. Now, British nationals without dual EU citizenship will need to register their fingerprints, facial features and entry details upon landing in Amsterdam if this is their first trip to a Schengen destination since October 12, when EES started being implemented.
Tenerife Sur Reina Sofía airport in Spainprocessed 460,672 UK passengers last December. This makes it the second-most EES-affected airport for UK air travellers. Based on December 2024 passenger flows, Manchester Airport processed the most travellers to and from Tenerife Sur Reina Sofía, counting 81,445 in just a month – around 20,000 more than at Gatwick.
Paris Charles de Gaulle airportranked third for potential EES-caused queues British nationals might experience this Christmas. In December 2024 alone, 433,282 UK passengers arrived or departed through this airport. This means about one in 26 passengers travelling between a UK and a Schengen area airport lands at Paris Charles de Gaulle, where they will likely experience queues upon landing if that is their first visit to a Schengen country since October 12 and they do not hold EU citizenship.
“You might want to brace for Amsterdam, Tenerife and Paris queues, along with the dreaded third-country border control lines,” said Andrew Noble, Marketing Director of Amigo eSIM. “This is because, until the system is fully rolled out in the next half a year, British nationals cannot generally use the e-gates when they first enter the Schengen area. Where dedicated kiosks are unavailable, they will either need to queue along with all the other non-EU citizens and do their EES registration at the police booths.
“If you thought airports around Christmas time were busy mainly with EU nationals, travelling to see their families abroad, meaning border control lines might be less crowded, that is simply not the case.
“Passenger arrivals data from the Home Office suggests 47.89% of UK entries in December 2024 were of British nationality, and slightly more – 50.46% – returned to the UK in January 2025. If we assume these might be Brits coming back from a trip abroad that started at some point in December, it means those hoping the Christmas airport rush will not have much of an impact on their new requirement to register with the EES are mistaken.
“One way to avoid long queues is to book your outbound journey at a time when there are fewer flights landing at your destination airport from other Schengen countries. If you happen to travel to the Schengen area before the Christmas rush, you will not need to re-register and can proceed straight to the usual steps. It only takes about two minutes to register with the EES, but hold-ups might happen if you accidentally answer any entry questions incorrectly, which usually require a binding ‘Yes’. We recommend watching a few reports from travellers who have already tested the kiosks just so you know what to expect and make the entire process faster for everyone.”
The 29 countries that require all non-EU nationals, such as Britons, to pre-register their biometric data and entry information are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. These constitute the Schengen area.
Starting from October 12, 2025, these countries require non-EU nationals to have their fingerprints scanned and their photo taken, as well as to provide details of their travel journey. The latter includes questions linked to Schengen’s visa-free legal requirements, such as whether you have proof of accommodation, a return or Schengen area exit ticket, sufficient means to cover your stay and travel insurance.
EES is being rolled out gradually at all entry points into these countries, with a full implementation deadline of April 10, 2026. Since the UK left the European Union in 2020, British nationals have been allowed to stay in the Schengen area for 90 days out of 180; otherwise, they need to apply for a visa. The new EES programme is designed to replace passport stamping and detect more accurately when non-EU citizens may be overstaying their visa-free travel period.