Gran Canaria airport has become the latest Spanish travel hub to start using the new EES system for non-EU residents.
The rollout of EES at Gran Canaria is the latest in a series of Spanish airports phasing in the new border technology.
READ ALSO: What will new EES border checks mean for non-EU residents in Europe?
That’s according to the British Embassy in Spain, which on Thursday October 30th posted on its Facebook page ‘Brits in Spain’ to warn UK nationals that Gran Canaria airport is now using the new biometric border system.
Over a million UK nationals visited Gran Canaria in 2024, making them by far the biggest group of non-EU residents who will have to use the new EES system.
Madrid Barajas airport was the first to start trialling EES on October 12th.
This was followed by three other smaller airports - Seville, Tenerife North and Burgos. Then Málaga airport started testing the new system on October 12th.
With the addition of Barcelona earlier this week on October 27th, and now Gran Canaria, there are now seven airports in Spain which have started using the new passport checks.
Mallorca is scheduled to kickstart EES on November 19th.
EES
The new passport checks started being implemented in many European countries on October 12th and will be rolled out across much of the bloc for the next six months until April 10th 2026.
To be exact, this affects the 29 European countries that form part of the Schengen Area - all those in the European Union except Cyprus and Ireland, as well as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
It essentially means more checks for those from third countries - such as having photographs and fingerprints taken - and will record entries and exits from the Schengen Area for third-country nationals.
It gathers and stores:
Details from your travel document (e.g. full name, nationality, date of birth, passport number).
The date, time, and location of your entry and exit.
Your facial image and fingerprints (“biometric data”).
Any record of refused entry, where applicable.
Once the process is complete, passport stamps will be eliminated.
Crucially, if you’re a non-EU citizen but are a resident in Spain, you will not have to register for EES, but you still have to queue in third-country national queue if flying in from outside of the Schengen Area.
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