Stay in France of less than 3 months: registration in the European Entry/Exit System (EES)
Verified 02 June 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
You are a foreigner and you want to stay in France for less than 3 months? Whether or not you are required to have a short-stay visa, you will be registered in the European Entry/Exit System upon arrival in France (Entry Exit System - EES). This European system, deployed from October 2025 at the external borders of the Member States of the Schengen area, records your personal data, as well as data on the entry, exit and refusal of entry of third-country travelers. Here's the information you need to know.
As of October 2025, this system will:
- replace the stamping of passports and travel documents with a digital stamp,
- automates the calculation of the length of stay in the territory of the Member States,
- and enables real-time detection of overstayers.
Registration is carried out by a border guard when crossing an external border of the Schengen area (airport, port, international railway station).
You are concerned if you fill in the following 3 conditions :
- You are national of a non-european country
- Your stay in France (or another country of the Schengen area)
- You do not have a residence permit (residence card) or a long-stay visa issued by a Schengen Member State.
However, depending on your nationality and your situation, you may be exempted from registration in the EES system.
Persons subject to registration in EES
Third-country nationals traveling to the Schengen area for a short stay (maximum duration of 90 days in a 180-day period), whether or not they are subject to the short-stay visa requirement, are subject to mandatory registration in the Entry/Exit System (EES).
Including:
- Seasonal workers when their employment contract is less than 3 months, whether or not they hold a residence permit,
- Third-country nationals who are family members of an EU citizen who do not hold a residence card for a family member.
Foreigner travelers (third-country nationals) who are refused entry shall also be registered in the Entry/Exit System (EES).
Persons not subject to registration in EES
- Third-country nationals in a long-stay situation :
- Holders of a D visa, referred to as long-stay visa
- Holders of a residence permit issued by France or another Member State
- Persons with an employment contract or a school certificate more than 3 months accompanying a short-stay visa, if required, pending the issuance of a residence permit :
- Researchers
- Students
- Seasonal workers
- Volunteers in the framework of European volunteering
- Au pair workers
- Workers in internal transfer to their company who can attest to it (right to mobility).
- People who already benefit from exemption regimes from border checks or who benefit from specific rules in this matter :
- Heads of State, sovereigns and their delegations announced through diplomatic channels
- Pilots and crew (aircraft, cargo, cruise, rail)
- Seafarers (only when remaining on the right of way of the port where the vessel is moored)
- Frontier workers
- Security and rescue services
- Persons holding a permit or derogation for border crossing or a document facilitating rail transit.
Registration in the Entry/Exit System (EES) is carried out at the border crossing point (airport, port, station etc.) where the external border of the Schengen area is crossed by the traveler.
In order to be able to record the data needed to create their SEA file, travelers have 2 options:
They may go directly to the border control post for a border guard to collect the data and record it in the EES system
They may use a pre-registration device, such as a ‘kiosk’ or ‘tablet’, present at certain border crossing points. These fluidification devices allow a faster crossing of the border. Their use is optional and free. The EES file will be validated by a border guard at the checkpoint.
A pre-registration device is a technological solution enabling travelers to record the data necessary for the creation of their EES file, ahead of the actual check at the border control post by the border guards.
These arrangements take two forms depending on the specific characteristics of border crossing points:
· Kiosk : in the form of a fixed kiosk with self-service access by passengers
· Tablet —As a mobile tablet manipulated by agents
In order to use pre-registration devices, the traveler must have a valid biometric passport (containing a chip).
For minors under 12 years of age:
· Accompanied minors may use pre-registration devices. Depending on the device used:
o the kiosk does not capture any biometrics (the miner’s facial image will be taken at the checkpoint)
o the tablet captures only facial biometrics.
· Unaccompanied minors shall not be entitled to use pre-registration devices. The actions necessary for the creation and updating of their EES file will be carried out directly at the border control post by a border guard.
Airports
You can use them at the following airports:
- Roissy-Charles de Gaulle
- Orly
- Basel-Mulhouse
- ·Beauvais
- Bordeaux
- Lyon
- Marseille
- Montpellier
- Nantes
- Nice
- Strasbourg
- Toulouse.
Stations
You can use them at the following stations:
- Gare du Nord (Eurostar)
- St Pancras Railway Station in London (Eurostar)
- Terminal of Coquel in France (Eurotunnel)
- Folkestone terminal in the United Kingdom (Eurotunnel).
Ports
You can use them in the following ports:
- Caen
- Calais
- Cherbourg
- Dieppe
- Dover
- Dunkirk
- Le Havre
- Marseille
- Saint Malo
- Sete.
You must follow the “pre-recording device” panel to locate the device.
Kiosk
You must complete the following steps:
- Show up alone in front of the kiosk
- Click the Welcome screen to start your pre-registration and follow the prompts
- Answer the questionnaire about your situation and your trip
- Place your passport, on the photo page, in the upper left of the reader, and hold the document on the reader until the device informs you that the capture is successful. Depending on your situation, you may be asked to scan the visa you have
- Get ready for your facial image: remove your glasses, scarf, hat and mask
- Position yourself in front of the camera and help yourself to bright LEDs in order to successfully take the photo
- Prepare to record your fingerprints: press the four fingers of your right hand on the reader. If the right hand cannot be used, the left hand can be used
- At the end of your pre-check-in, the kiosk screen will direct you to the rest of the journey to complete your border crossing
During pre-check-in at the kiosk, orientation officers are available to assist and guide travelers in case of difficulty.
Tablet
You must complete the following steps:
- Report to a tablet-equipped orientation officer to help you with your pre-registration.
- Answer the agent’s questions about your situation and your trip. Depending on your situation, you may be asked to scan the visa you have.
- Present your passport to the agent, who will read the MRZ tape and bullet of your document
- Get ready for your facial image: remove your glasses, scarf, hat and mask
- The agent using the tablet will take a picture of your face
- Prepare for fingerprint registration: press the four fingers of your right hand on the reader indicated by the agent. If the right hand cannot be used, the left hand can be used
- At the end of your pre-check-in, the orientation officer will direct you to the rest of the journey to complete your border crossing.
Pre-registration devices allow you to collect the data needed to create and update your EES folder :
· The data contained in the travel document(s) : surname; first name; date of birth; place of birth; gender; nationality: travel document number; three-letter code of the country of issue of the travel document; date of expiry of the travel document
· The place, time and date of the border crossing : Entry and exit from the Schengen area
· The traveler's biometric data : facial biometrics (photo of the face) and digital biometrics (fingerprints of the right hand, or failing the left hand - except for minors under 12 years of age).
The collection of biometric data third-country nationals concerned by the EES is mandatory. If the traveler refuses to collect his or her biometric data, he or she will be refused entry into Schengen territory.
Reminder
Passage through the pre-registration device is not mandatory. The traveler may opt at any time for the border control post, during which the border guard will check the travel documents, collect biometrics and create/update the EES file.
The file shall be updated at each border crossing, recording the place, date and time of the crossing.
The processing of data is controlled by the Ministry of the Interior’s Data Protection Officer (Ministry of the Interior - Place Beauvau - 75800 Paris Cedex 08).
You can access your data. You also have the right to object, the right to rectification and the right to restriction of the processing of your data. To exercise these rights or for any questions about the processing of your data in this device, you must write to donnees-personnelles-dgef@interieur.gouv.fr.
If you feel, after contacting the ministry, that your IT rights and Freedoms are not respected, you can send a complaint to the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (Cnil).
This European system collects, stores and stores the following data:
· The data contained in the travel document(s) : surname; first name; date of birth; place of birth; gender; nationality: travel document number; three-letter code of the country of issue of the travel document; date of expiry of the travel document
· The place, time and date of the border crossing : Entry and exit from the Schengen area
· The traveler's biometric data : facial biometrics (photo of the face) and digital biometrics (fingerprints of the right hand, or failing the left hand - except for minors under 12 years of age).
The collection of biometric data third-country nationals concerned by the EES is mandatory. If the traveler refuses to collect his or her biometric data, he or she will be refused entry into Schengen territory.
The data collected by the pre-registration devices differ if you have previously been registered in the EES system.
· If you are unknown to the system : If you have not crossed any Schengen external border since the start of EES operations (after October 2025), you will be registered for the first time. All of the following data will need to be stored in your EES folder for the first time:
o Name
o First name(s)
o Date of birth
o Place of birth
o Gender
o Nationality
o Number of travel document
o Three-letter code of the country of issuance of the travel document
o Date of expiry of the travel document
o Place, time and date of border crossing,
o Biometrics:
§ Facial biometrics (face photo)
§ Fingerprint (fingerprint of the right hand, or in the absence of the left hand) except for minors under 12 years
· If you are already known to the system : If you have crossed an external border of the Schengen area since the start of EES operations (since October 2025), you will be subject to a subsequent registration. Your existing SEA file is updated each time you cross an external border, recording the place, date and time of the crossing.
Your data will only be kept in the system for the purposes for which it was collected and for a specified period of time:
- Entry, exit or refusal of entry certificate: 3 years from the date of their creation
- Individual files containing your personal data (including your biometric data): 3 years and 1 day from the date of your last exit or refusal of entry (if you were not allowed to enter)
- If no exit has been recorded in your personal file: 5 years from the date of end of authorized stay.
At the end of each period, your data is automatically erased.
You can access your data. You also have the right to object, the right to rectification and the right to restriction of the processing of your data. To exercise these rights or for any questions about the processing of your data in this device, you can contact us electronically:
donnees-personnelles-dgef@interieur.gouv.fr
This processing is controlled by the Ministry of the Interior’s Data Protection Officer (Ministry of the Interior - Place Beauvau - 75800 Paris Cedex 08).