**Foreign Office Highlights New Entry Rules for British Travellers to Spain, Italy, France and Across Schengen Zone**
UK holidaymakers planning visits to popular European destinations including Spain, Italy, and France face significant changes to passport checks from this autumn, as outlined in updated Foreign Office guidance. The European Union is set to roll out its new Entry/Exit System (EES) across the Schengen area, potentially affecting millions of British passport holders each year.
From 12 October 2025, travellers entering any of the 25 EU Schengen countries – as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – will encounter a digital border control process on their arrival. The system, designed to tighten security and monitor the movement of non-EU visitors, represents a pivotal shift in how UK citizens, who are now classed as ‘third country nationals’, will be processed at European borders following Brexit.
The new EES protocol requires that, during your initial visit to the Schengen area, you create a digital record at your port of entry, which may be an airport, ferry terminal, or railway station. This will involve submitting your fingerprints and having a photograph taken at automated kiosks specifically installed for the system. The Foreign Office has highlighted that these checks are intended to be completed on arrival, and no advance biometric data submission will be necessary before travel.
However, British travellers are being cautioned to prepare for possible delays when reaching their EU destinations. The need to collect biometric data for each person upon arrival is expected to increase queue times at border posts, particularly during the early stages of the system’s implementation. Although advance registration is not required, all those entering the Schengen zone must ensure their passports meet newly clarified criteria.
In line with these changes, GOV.UK stresses that anyone making the journey must ensure their passport was issued less than 10 years before their entry date. Additionally, the passport must have at least three months’ validity beyond the date you plan to leave the Schengen area. There have been previous instances where travellers renewing passports before October 2018 have inadvertently ended up with travel documents that do not comply with these updated requirements, so an early passport check is strongly recommended.
Should your travel documents not satisfy these new regulations, border security staff have the authority to deny you entry. The UK government is urging travellers to check their passport details with tour operators or airlines well in advance, as well as renewing passports where necessary to ensure compliance. Notably, using a passport reported as lost or stolen will also result in being refused access.
The Foreign Office also offers tailored guidance for those travelling by various modes of transport, including ferries, Eurostar, and cruises. For cruises departing and returning outside the Schengen area – for example, a round-trip starting and ending in the UK – passengers will typically be exempt from the entry and exit checks. However, if travellers disembark within the Schengen zone and continue their journey elsewhere, they will need to complete full biometric checks as detailed under the new rules.
For those planning to enter Europe via ferry at the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone, or St Pancras International on the Eurostar, biometric data will be collected before departure from the UK. When leaving the Schengen area, passengers may be asked to provide either their fingerprint or have their photo taken as part of the exit procedures.
Frequent travellers – both for work and leisure – are warned that the standard “90 days in any 180-day period” Schengen rule on visits remains unchanged. Exceeding this limit can result in penalties or even bans from individual countries within the zone. Once registered in the new system, a traveller’s digital EES record will remain valid for three years, meaning that for subsequent visits within this time, they should only need to provide a fingerprint or photo at the border.
Given the scale of these changes, British citizens are encouraged to apply due diligence when planning any trips to Europe from October onwards. The Schengen area, consisting of much of mainland Europe and several non-EU countries, represents the largest group of nations with open borders for internal travel. Navigating the new EES requirements efficiently will help ensure a smoother journey and avoid any unwelcome border difficulties for UK passport holders.