British travellers face five-hour queues as new EU border system overwhelms Brussels Airport

Some passengers arriving at Brussels Airport from outside the Schengen area faced up to five-hour passport queues last week, causing significant delays. These delays were not due to security checks, as passengers arriving from other Schengen countries were not affected. The Source confirms the issue was with passport control, not security, and that the airport is working on longer-term solutions by training extra police officers to handle the border posts.

The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) is responsible for the delays, which requires visitors from outside the EU to undergo fingerprint and face-scan registration. Brussels Airport's e-gates are only open to eligible EU passport holders and Belgian ID card holders. Travelers from certain countries, including the US, used to be able to register at a kiosk before using the gates, but this is no longer possible, resulting in a higher number of passengers joining staffed queues.

The Source does not specify which nationalities waited the longest, but it is clear that British travellers are among those experiencing these delays, as the UK and British passport holders are not on the e-gate list. Some airports in Belgium, such as those in France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal, have been granted informal approval to ease biometric checks.

However, Brussels still saw waits of up to five hours, even with this leeway. Spain is not on the list of countries with relaxed checks, so Spanish airports are running full EES procedures. British residents living in Spain who hold a TIE residency card should show it with their passport, as they are exempt from EES registration.

For everyone else, experts advise travelers to allow significantly more time for travel and not to plan connections too tightly at this time.