EES - Travel to Europe mobile app - All you need to know (hopefully)
- Thread starter Wapping
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I am going to Sweden tomorrow, so I’ll see what difference (if any) the app makes.
I have been to Sweden (via Stockholm’s Arlanda airport) twice since the EES system was first introduced. The first time was on the day the EES system went live.
On both occasions, the entry and exit queues for non-EU passport holders each resulted in a minimum of an hour queuing. Under the EU we were through in well under five minutes,
I have been to Sweden (via Stockholm’s Arlanda airport) twice since the EES system was first introduced. The first time was on the day the EES system went live.
On both occasions, the entry and exit queues for non-EU passport holders each resulted in a minimum of an hour queuing. Under the EU we were through in well under five minutes,
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Thanks, Richard and safe travels. But a note:
Thank you.
Indeed, the app is (as at today) limited to Sweden and Portugal only. We’ll have to wait and see:
A. What difference it makes, if any.
B. Whether other counties within the EU adopt it.
What though we might be seeing is the very early start of ‘passportless’ travel, entry and exit being run via phone based apps. Link it to AI (which will scan databases far quicker and more accurately than any human) and bingo…. No need to have manual checks, just a team to arrest rogues and scrotes.
Of course travel within the countries of the EU is ‘passportless’ already, as it is within the Schengen countries.
Indeed, the app is (as at today) limited to Sweden and Portugal only. We’ll have to wait and see:
A. What difference it makes, if any.
B. Whether other counties within the EU adopt it.
What though we might be seeing is the very early start of ‘passportless’ travel, entry and exit being run via phone based apps. Link it to AI (which will scan databases far quicker and more accurately than any human) and bingo…. No need to have manual checks, just a team to arrest rogues and scrotes.
Of course travel within the countries of the EU is ‘passportless’ already, as it is within the Schengen countries.
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I’ve downloaded the app and completed inputting the data requested. In all, it took me perhaps a couple of minutes.
I’m now all set for my trip to Stockholm.
I’m now all set for my trip to Stockholm.
The app was mentioned by me in the other thread (somewhere).
Portugal (Faro) next Monday - app filled in* - what could possibly go wrong???
* app says that it should be used 72 hours before entering the EU, but it let me fill everything in 10 days before entering the EU. Curiosity (impatience) got the better of me.
Portugal (Faro) next Monday - app filled in* - what could possibly go wrong???
* app says that it should be used 72 hours before entering the EU, but it let me fill everything in 10 days before entering the EU. Curiosity (impatience) got the better of me.
Unless there a dedicated booths for those with chipped passports and who have completed the app, I don’t think it will save much time. You’ll still be queued behind all those who haven’t.
All it might save you is the questions you are asked on arrival at the booth. The questions in the app near enough match the questions I was asked on my two arrivals in Stockholm.
Your passport will (for now at least) still need to be stamped.
All it might save you is the questions you are asked on arrival at the booth. The questions in the app near enough match the questions I was asked on my two arrivals in Stockholm.
Your passport will (for now at least) still need to be stamped.
Agreed.
I don't think that it will make any real difference (at the moment) but it comes under 'Can't do any harm'...........
The app makes no appreciable difference to one’s entry to Sweden, one of the only two counties that have sanctioned its use.
Questions at the passport booth on the length of stay, purpose of visit and where one is staying, along with another look in the camera. No finger prints this time as mine had been taken before, so I assume they are held somewhere.
The camera’s purpose seems to be to match one’s digital face to the image in the passport. I can only assume it does it better than a human is able to? The days of the manned teahuts will soon be over, replaced by AI. That’s one positive step of progress, I guess.
Questions at the passport booth on the length of stay, purpose of visit and where one is staying, along with another look in the camera. No finger prints this time as mine had been taken before, so I assume they are held somewhere.
The camera’s purpose seems to be to match one’s digital face to the image in the passport. I can only assume it does it better than a human is able to? The days of the manned teahuts will soon be over, replaced by AI. That’s one positive step of progress, I guess.
I have travelled to Sweden on a monthly basis for the last two years. Even when using my Irish passport I get questioned on reason for trip, date of return flight etc.
When using my British passport it steps up more, even being asked about stamps for other countries on my passport.
Barry
When using my British passport it steps up more, even being asked about stamps for other countries on my passport.
Barry
The Irish passport questions surprise me. I never use my British passport to go to the EU, and as I don’t go anywhere else any more, I wonder why I bought it. The Irish one does all I need, so far…
One difference, though it might be an oversight by the immigration officer at Arlanda airport, Stockholm is that there seems to be no entry stamp in my passport.
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Isn't that the point of the new system?
Except that facial recognition is certainly not foolproof, there’ve been quite a few cases of plod pulling the wrong person based on their facial recognition trawls.
So I suppose it’s cheaper but it hasn’t seemed to have any effect on the number of booths open.
I heard somewhere, and it may or may not be true, that the egates with cameras at Heathrow are monitored by people, which is why sometimes only a few are open. If it’s just a machine why not open all of them all the time?
Indeed it will, apparently, replace stamps in passports. We live in a digital age after all.
I just happened to notice, that’s all.
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No doubt. Though if the number of correct identities is greater than the number of false, it is an overall improvement, is it not?
More importantly, if the number of times the AI can identify a suspected falsehood (or in the case of the police, say a wanted criminal) reliably (and quickly) exceeds those of a human, then - again - it’s a good thing, surely?
It depends on your view of Ai in general. No doubt it has some benefits but the massive over- expectation of it, largely from politicians and business leaders that think Claude is likely to be a jolly French chap in a stripy jumper, is staggering.
Surveys of FD’s are showing simultaneously that AI is their number one priority and also that pretty much no AI projects have given anything like the expected ROI.
Couple that with general ignorance and an unjustified faith in the largely rubbish output that AI spits out is going to and has already led to miscarriages of justice, let alone terrible business decisions.
Plus, we have lots of people. Sometimes it’s nice to talk to them, not just get processed by a machine meaning they’ll all be on the dole.
But we digress.
On filling in the app, did you get as far as getting the QR code? Did you show this QE code to a guard or machine in Sweden?
I didn’t see a QR code appear in the app. The screen in the app with the little message that I was all set to enter Sweden appeared. What did I miss?
Complete guess here....
You probably didn't 'miss' anything. It's possibly that it all works slightly differently for different countries - I'm filling it in for Portugal.
I filled everything in as far as I could and ended up with this QR code (it had my name below it which I've cropped) If I swiped left another code comes up for my wife.
God knows !!
