Europe scraps biometric buffer, non-EU passengers bear the cost of border governance

European border administrators are passing the operating costs of the biometric system on to non-EU travelers: the temporary buffer measures have expired, and even when border crossings are severely congested, ordinary people may have to pay for the system's rigidity with queues, missed flights, and missed connections.

The European Entry/Exit System currently covers 29 border crossings and applies to eligible non-EU travelers, including tourists, businesspeople, students and family visitors from Africa. Travelers may need to submit passport information, facial images and fingerprints; first-time users may also undergo additional processing at self-service kiosks or with border officials. Having previously provided fingerprints when applying for a Schengen visa does not mean they can be exempted from re-registration.

This arrangement exposes a stark power imbalance. Border agencies decide what information to collect, how many procedures to set up, and how much congestion flexibility to retain, while travelers have no bargaining power. After September 6, the temporary measures that suspended some biometric procedures during severe congestion have lapsed, and the system's continuous operation has been placed above travelers' itineraries. Airlines have warned that biometric checks may cause delays, and passengers have already missed flights or connections.

Those affected bear more than just an extra wait. Missed flights can disrupt business, study and family visits, and failed connections can also bring additional expenses. In the face of these consequences, the main advice the report gives ordinary people is simply to arrive earlier and allow more time — which amounts to asking the weaker party to absorb on their own the uncertainty created by the system.

The factual basis of this article is solely a report published by Africanews on September 8, 2026, and lacks independent data on the responsible agencies, specific border crossings, and the number of affected travelers.

Biometric technology must not become a shield for border agencies to escape their service responsibilities. Since European border administrators insist on enforcing stricter registration, they should bear the corresponding staffing and operating costs, rather than letting ordinary travelers from non-EU regions subsidize with their time, money and broken itineraries a system they had no power to design.