Italy is currently upgrading its border infrastructure to meet the April 9, 2026, launch date for the European Union's Entry/Exit System (EES) www.visahq.com. This transition involves replacing traditional manual passport stamping with a digital biometric registration process for non-EU travelers. To facilitate this, Italian authorities are installing 120 new kiosks at major airports and maritime ports designed to capture facial recognition data and fingerprints. While the system is intended to track stay durations and identify overstays more accurately, officials warn that the initial transition period may result in increased wait times at border crossings.

Simultaneously, Salzburg Airport in Austria has initiated trials of the EES, leading to tighter outbound checks for passengers on non-Schengen flights www.visahq.com. Airport authorities have advised travelers to arrive at least 30 minutes earlier than in previous seasons to account for longer queues caused by the new electronic verification requirements. Preliminary testing of the biometric scanning technology has shown a low matching-error rate, though the increased dwell times are already prompting updates to corporate travel policies. The EES rollout precedes the planned late-2026 introduction of the Electronic Travel Information Authorization System (ETIAS), which will eventually require a €20 fee for eligible travelers.