New EU entry and exit system comes into force today

This system provides a new biometric identification method that will replace manual stamps of the electronic registration passport , which will be dedicated to citizens of 29 third countries that do not need visas to enter the European Union.

The system will register all non-EU citizens travelling to the Schengen area for short-term stays, respectively, up to 90 days within each 180-day period.

System EES aims to cut the ranks at the border points, after replacing the manual seal in the passport with a full digital check. Biometric passenger data, fingerprints, facial recognition, along with their name, date and exit location.

The system will automatically account how many days you've stayed in the Schengen area and how many days you've been out of quotas for 90 days. All these data will be stored for 3 years, or 5 if stay deadlines are passed, then the data is automatically deleted. From the process of fingerprinting, children under 12.

Based on this system, there is a desire to improve control of the migration flows to Europe. In recent years, management and security of EU external borders have become an absolute priority for Brussels.

The EU has invested huge amounts for the development of this technology: a 142m-euro fund has been established just for the design phase. A consortium consisting of US company IBM, Italian company Leonardo, and French company Athos has won the tender.