It's the gift the keeps on shitting.

And we can look forward to the Quitlings complaining about this.

Because Sovereignty is something that only the UK should have. And any time another country (or grouping of countries) exercises it in a way that annoys them, they're happy to be hypocrites.

If we had such a thing as a "self-awareness scanner" we could use their headlines & tweets to calibrate it to zero. ;-)

What's it got to do with Brexit? UK was never in the Schengen area. Remember.

Because the UK deliberately chose to become a third country when it left the EU. That meant there was no agreement on passports. There could have been an agreement but the Brexiteers and Little Englanders didn't want that. This is why Brits get their passports stamped (and will now get fingerprinted) whenever they enter and leave the non-Irish bits of the EU.

BTW one of the lies told during the Brexit referendum was we'd still enjoy hassle-free travel to/from the EU.

What's it got to do with Brexit? UK was never in the Schengen area. Remember.

Neither is Ireland, yet:

"The EES does not apply to: Nationals of the European countries using the EES, as well as Cyprus and Ireland " ( https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/to-whom-does-ees-not-apply )

Without Brexit the UK would be on this list of non-Schengen countries too. EU citizens have free movement with the EU, Schengen or not. After all this time and such a tortured exit how do anonymous cowards still not know these basics?

No no no. Mistake you are making is thinking that had the Brexit vote gone the other way then things vis-a-vis UK & EU would have remained the same. They wouldn't. A vote to remain would have been used by EU and UK elites to, for once and for all, wholly integrate the UK into the EU. So now, 9 years on, we'd have been in Schengen, plus a whole lot more.

Aah as long as we're putting on the tin-foil maybe these shadowy elusive 'Elites' (the ones who don't pay any attention to polling data on what British citizens want unlike normal politicians we see who U-turn at the slightest bad headline) actually manipulated the Brexit vote so that we would leave the EU and then have to sign-up to Schengen and the Euro when we inevitably rejoin (*). They play the long-game those crafty 'Elites' do.

(*) Resisting the urge to mention the rebate because frankly we were taking the piss with that for 35 years and only got away with it because France & Spain take the piss with the CAP as well.

>>The EU says EES will make border checks more efficient

Title says it all.

What will happen is a percentage of booths won't work at any given time for registration, a percentage of travellers will not be able to register at the booth and will need assistance, then, once registered, many travellers will fail the automatic biometric check at the border and still have to be diverted to a real customs official who will sigh deeply, curse the English under their breath, and wave them through.

Call me cynical if you like, but the trouble I had getting the UK Passport Application system to recognise me as actually looking at the camera in my photograph was immense. There is no reason at all to suuppose that the 'automatic border check' will be any better. I am not looking forward to EES in the slightest - it will just add stress to the trip.

I travel in and out of the country frequently. I stand still and impassive, with my glasses in my hand at the passport scanner and rarely have difficulty being recognised quickly.

When going through human passport points I'm polite and friendly, this is more often than not reciprocated by the passport officer. The only place that is consistently impolite and unwelcoming is UK Border Control.

Could it be you?

"The only place that is consistently impolite and unwelcoming is UK Border Control."

I see you have not been to the US recently.

The only place that is consistently impolite and unwelcoming is UK Border Control.

yep.

I find it interesting that all the Regtard comments at this point are regarding convenience, or lack of same, rather than security. Yeah, I'll let *any* governmental body keep a copy of my fingerprint, especially with a "promise" of deleting it after 3 years. I am quite sure that the current anti-democratic powers are already wringing their hands at the possibilities involved once they crack their way into the (most likely) poorly-secured governmental server systems (because, when was the last time a government system was been proven to be secure??)

Nope. I guess my last visit to Europe was, indeed, my last visit.

Yeah, I'll let *any* governmental body keep a copy of my fingerprint.

Yep, sounds like a plan. Just need to keep track of which fingerprint prints you're using for each ID when enrolling it so you can print the right ones out when travelling. Technofetishism opens up so many fun possibilities when we're dealing with fallable machines instead of humans that can spot a wrong'un. Kinda tempted to print some now with embedded EURion rings, or just Oracle & Palantir logos. I suspect it might also highlight issues with FMR & FRRs for fingerprints as reliable identifiers.

Just need to keep track of which fingerprint prints you're using for each ID when enrolling it so you can print the right ones out when travelling.

The US system requires all of your fingerprints.

I imagine the EU system will be the same.

(Quite sensible, because it allows for fingers being damaged or amputated.)

Yep, my last visit to the US was in 2003, just before they started doing this - I never thought it would be my last, but if a country wants to fingerprint me legally entering, then I don't enter. End of.

"the trouble I had getting the UK Passport Application system to recognise me as actually looking at the camera in my photograph was immense."

I didn't have any problem using my phone to register the whole family when we visited UK this summer. The app took the pictures and processed the data quickly. Smooth sailing.

It did however feel like a stupid money grab.

"the EU says" = Lies. As bloody usual.

They switched on the system in CZ recently. The words "complete and utter bloody chaos" don't even begin to describe the monumental omnishambles it's caused.

I wonder if I left any dabs on that Opel Kadet I “borrowed” in Munich back in ‘83…

I wonder if I left any dabs on that Opel Kadet

Or just any dabs left. I've frequently cursed fingerprint readers because I don't have much in the way of fingerprints. Looking at the worn-out keycaps on my keyboard, they also wear out my fingerprints.. Whcih can be pretty common for anyone who types a lot, along with other trades like french polishers. This also made doing stuff like opening single-use plastic bags a PITA.. err PITF due to the lack of grip.

French polishers, anyone else who scrapes things a lot - understandable.

But - typing? Just a tap down and lift, not supposed to be scraping anything from side to side...

Anyone else seen fingerprintless typists - especially techie typists, rather than someone doing solid copy typing eight hours a week?

But - typing? Just a tap down and lift, not supposed to be scraping anything from side to side...

Yep, typing. Especially if you're used to touch typing, or just typing fairly fast. Lifting is slow, so watching my fingers as I type, I tend to slide rather than lift them much. But also a keyboard tends to last me maybe 2-3yrs before the keycaps wear through. Also fun to look at the wear patters, eg I can see through my space bar on the right side where I tend to hit that with the side of my right thumb.. Which also probably has the best surviving print because we don't usually type with our thumbs.

Anyone else seen fingerprintless typists - especially techie typists, rather than someone doing solid copy typing eight hours a week?

I think you might be suprised by the number of techie typists who spend >8hrs a week typing. Consider emails, reports, documentation or just bashing out code and many IT types probably spend way more than 8hrs a week. But I probably spend around 4-5hrs a day writing, corresponding, chatting or just doing some basic research to demonstrate that someone's preconceptions might be misplaced. So first result on the query I typed gave me this-

https://killzoneblog.com/2019/10/can-writers-lose-their-fingerprints.html

Which professions cause the most damage to fingerprints?

Bricklayers and other heavy manual laborers can wear down their fingerprint ridges to the point where no pattern is visible. Secretaries and file clerks who handle paper all day can have a similar thing occur. Typists (Writers!) and piano players can suffer the same alterations. Hairstylists, dry cleaning workers, and those who work with lime (calcium oxide) are often exposed to chemicals that dissolve the upper layers of the skin, thereby flattening the ridge detail.

Luckily other biometrics are available, like.. ear prints. Unless I take up painting I guess.

Add to that processing pineapples.

who have Euro residency and don't get our passports stamped.

You don't seem to have looked very far.

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/en/ees/to-whom-does-ees-not-apply

Thanks, I hadn't looked that far :)

And to forestall a subsequent enquiry, you won't be subject to ETIAS either.

Of course, if the populist right continues to grow in popularity, we may all find that our "permanent residence" comes under the same threat as "indefinite leave to remain" in the UK. However, for the moment, your travel should be unaltered.

We're about 2 weeks out from the start of this process, and they have yet to give any actual details. Phased in? Where, which ports/airports?

ETIAS? Why is it being introduced at a separate time? I thought ETIAS was supposed to be at the same time, so the entire process was self service and stamp-less. If you have to scan all your biometrics in, does that mean you no longer need the stamp? If so, what is the point of ETIAS?

Despite opinions (and occasional appearances) to the contrary, the EU isn't a monolithic entity. The rollout is the responsibility of the individual member countries and they're not all rolling at the same speed.

Would you like me to tell you about how widely the information about the UK's ETA was disseminated?

Also the continuing confusion since ETA was introduced over what to do about dual British nationals who have an expired British passport and fly in on their passport belonging to the other nationality which appears to be a move to force dual British nationals resident abroad to renew their British passport or apply for a £550 certificate to stick in their other passport.

They should install a Probulator (*) at all borders and determine if the foreigners have any nefarious looks, abilities and/or thoughts. Any deviation from acceptable should result in installing a mutant career chip and immediate deportation to the New York sewers.

(*) I can't help it if you didn't enjoy Futurame.

Red Dwarf had its mind probe, detecting criminality guilt.

But not so good at telling guilt from culpability

"Who? Only a yoghurt"

Fave line.

"A man so stupid, he even objects to his own defence council" One of the best episodes, that and the self-ending squid.

Yes! We must all simultaneously applaud this foresightly EU decision with great reverence and bow down to the prescience of those who proposed and voted for it.

After all, no one who is of sane body and mind could ever possibly endeavor to temporarily visit the EU for any endeavor other than outright malfeasance, criminal tourism, or cultural thievery.

It therefore stands to the clearest of reasons that all visitors should be treated with the utmost suspicion, as suspects in past, present, and future criminal investigations, to be fingerprinted, facially imaged, and registered into profile databases, for years to come, just in case ...

But this doesn't go nearly far enough given the extremely outsized dangers of allowing human peoples to cross our borders, moats, fortified walls, drawbridges, and torture dungeons. No! We must also ensure, at minimum, that: 1) they willingly surrender all [1]social media account passwords and posts to be vetted against our stringent new ideological propriety edicts, for life, and; 2) we automate the process of entering border-crossing fingerprints and facial images into all local [2]police databases , to [3]save water through efficiency.

And the stakes are so high that even those measures won't obviously suffice. To further perfect our system, we'll need to also collect DNA samples of all these border-crossing would-be lawbreaking wrongdoers, and database those as well, plus I would suggest having their wrists tattoed with a uniquely identifiable numeric code, and providing them (at fee) with a fashionable yellow star to be worn at all times while in the EU, as they await their eventual deportation to well-upholstered saunas, spas, and similar health camps ... the activities they engage in, there, will eventually [4]set them free ; free as in EU free!

[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/21/column_social_media_entrapment/

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/13/uk_expands_police_facial_recognition/

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/12/uk_government_delete_emails_water/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei

Good think is, options are still open but only for the best of the best: if you enter through an unauthorized place, with no documents whatsoever, and claim to be a minor -even if you look 40- no further questions will be asked

Yes, if your Mrs. Smith and you want to park your butt on a Spanish beach for a week, you'll get treated like a criminal with full biometric rubber gloves.

If you're an illegal migrant from Africa, you can enter illegally, cross the whole continent and leave France with impunity.

In the middle of an illegal migration crisis - this is what the EU does.......says a lot about it's priorities.

Holiday Maker != Asylum Seeker

There are different rules if you're fleeing for your life. Thankfully.

• "But this biometric database will be secure against evildoers -- unlike all those other databases!"

• Government efficiency by analagous means was achieved in Germany in 1939.

With IBM's help.

TBF the database that IBM produced for the Nazis was pretty efficient.

"In the last quarter of 2026, the EU will also introduce a €20 three-year visa waiver [...] This will cover most citizens of visa-exempt countries [...]."

So it's a visitor tax since there is already no need for a visa, the 3 year validity it just to make it look like it's a deal since most traveler will need it only once.

I used to do something not dissimilar to this 25 years ago entering into the US. I recall their INSPASS system used hand geometry though the enrolment process also involved my finger prints too. It was reserved for very frequent flyers as the enrollment took time. Once enrolled it was great to get to a full immigration hall at JFK airport and walk straight past the queues to the empty machines.

So a few months back, ace negotiator Keir Starmer told us he'd given all the UK's fish away in exchange for us being exempted from the EU's new entry/exit system. Seemed an insanely lopsided deal at the time, but now if in fact we are not exempted then it's completely utterly bonkers. Can one prosecute a PM for malfeasance?

As has been mentioned above, the rollout of the scheme is country specific, and it turned out that the benefit that we got in return for the fish was the right to ask individual countries for the right to bypass the system. Just the right to ask, not the right to get.

Oh wow. Then that is a VERY poor deal. Starmer should have known that and mentioned that at the time instead of making it sound like he'd negotiated something fantastic. So my charge of malfeasance against the man still stands.

Phew! Thank heavens Johnson was always totally straight and honest. Oh, how he's missed! Well, by Nadine Dorries if noone else.

Your judgement is rubbish sir. That Johnson lied does not excuse Starmer lying.

That was a massive porky by starmer - The EU and member states changed nothing, they just carried on with EES as planned.

No, it wasn't a deal to be exempted from EES, [1]it was a deal to be able to use e-gates in the EU, but this always going to happen anyway for non-EU citizens once EES was up and running .

[1] https://fullfact.org/europe/egates-uk-passports-starmer/

So Long & Thanks For All The Fish SUCKERS!

This must be a Thursday.