New EES system to start on November 12th in Lanzarote

The EES system, which will require third country nationals including Britons to provide fingerprints and facial scans at border control posts, will begin to operate on Lanzarote from the 12^th of November.

Pedro Viera, director of State Administration on Lanzarote, confirmed the date in an interview with La Voz de Lanzarote, and expressed his confidence that there were enough officers at the airport to operate the system without problems.

The system was introduced on Sunday but in Spain it was only used on one flight arriving at Madrid Barajas Airport. The roll out will be gradual over the next few months and the system is expected to be fully operational in April 2026.

Although the EES will eventually eliminate the need for passport stamping, the Spanish government has stated that passports of third country nationals will continue to be stamped until six months after the EES is fully operational.