Travel within the EU will be more difficult for third-country nationals
Фото: Nataliya Vaitkevich, Pixels
It's not just about difficulties in obtaining Schengen visas and buying plane tickets. It's also about a new system that will be introduced in Europe this year. It is called EES or Entry/Exit System.
The system is based on AI that collects, stores and analyzes data from travelers' travel documents. Travelers must enter their personal information into a database and have a biometric passport that stores some of the owner's data for the system to work. Read more about the EES system and how it works in our previous material.
Of course, the innovation applies only to citizens of third countries. Thus, having a five-year passport will automatically close the possibility of entering the EU, even if you have a valid visa.
Such restrictions apply to all EU countries, as well as Bulgaria and Romania, which voluntarily joined the EES test. The exceptions are Cyprus and Ireland, which are part of the alliance but have decided to continue manual passport checks.
The new control system is designed to combat terrorist cells, illegal trafficking, document forgery and dishonest travelers who spend more time in Europe than they should.
