Europe travel warning: David Cameron 'really worried about long delays' with post-Brexit fingerprint checks

The government has issued a warning than British holidaymakers travelling to Europe later this year could face “long delays” due to the new passport checks being brought in.

From the autumn, any visitor from outside the EU will have to give sensitive biometric data at the border as part of the new Entry-Exit System (EES), including facial scans and fingerprints. This will then be stored on a database and verified on each subsequent visit.

The new system, which has been repeatedly delayed, is a substantial increase in admin for travellers post-Brexit, and comes ahead of the £6 visa-waiver charge in 2025. Travel experts have warned of long delays, particularly at ports and Eurostar terminals where space is restricted.

And now the government has admitted it is also concerned about the queues that could pile up when Britons travel abroad. Foreign Secretary David Cameron told the European Scrutiny that the new EES system was his second talking point to EU ministers after Ukraine.

He said: “I literally raise it everywhere I go, from [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron to ... anyone from the [EU] Commission I ever meet. We’re making progress but it’s still worrying because we do have these quite big choke points at Dover and St Pancras.

“I’m really worried about there being long delays for people. The technology still needs testing and improving and we have got to do everything we can domestically to get ready with it.”

There has been concern, particularly at Dover and the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras, that there won’t be enough space for the additional checks required. The CEO of Port of Dover, Doug Bannister, said it will cause "significant and continued disruption for a very long time", while Eurostar said it has spent €10 million on preparing for the changes.

Lord Cameron said the UK is pushing for the EU to bring in an app, which allows travellers to put in their biometrics away from the border, but admitted that “lots of difficult issues remain”. Olaf Henricson-Bell, the EU lead in Foreign Office, said the EU app for the EES still isn’t finished, and the UK is “raising that in every meeting”. While Lord Cameron said he has told Macron that “if it’s not working properly it would be a big hit to French tourism”.

The EES is an automated registration system for UK holidaymakers - who don’t require a visa. It is designed to root out travellers who overstay the current 90-day limit.

It was initially slated to launch in 2022, but has faced multiple setbacks. The EU Council said earlier in the year: “The new roadmap for the delivery of the new IT architecture foresees that the Entry/Exit System will be ready to enter into operation in autumn 2024.” The Independent reported that it will be launched on 6 October next year, although this hasn’t been confirmed.

It will replace the much-loved stamps that Britons are currently getting on their passports after Brexit. Travellers will need to have their fingerprints and a facial biometric taken, and scan their passports every time they enter the EU.

Candice Mason, of Masons Minibus & Coach Hire Ltd, who described the scenes at Dover over the last few years "as carnage", has warned that in 2024 queues are only likely to get worse. "They already don't have the infrastructure just to check passports, so I don't know how they are going to do thumb and facial checks," Candice said. "They don't have the manpower, they don't have the space for it all to happen. It's definitely going to cause delays.

She explained that schools have told they're going to stop using coaches because of the chaos, and other companies are stopping arranging European travel. "All of us have had problems around the year, particularly around those peak seasons, it's gotten worse," she said. “Already coaches are missing ferries due to increased passport checks and drivers are using up their legal driving hours waiting in queues. And that's before the additional regulations come in.”

Phil Smith, from the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, said: "The problem is that the Port of Dover, the Eurotunnel and Eurostar have got a fairly restricted amount of space to install the infrastructure, and this will determine how quickly people get through. The first year we have to manage it, it's going to take considerably longer than at the moment. We don't know how the Port of Dover are going to be able to handle it."

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.