Since coming into effect on Friday 10 April, the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) has gotten off to a… bumpy start. For example, just two days after its introduction, over 100 easyJet passengers flying from Milan Linate Airport to Manchester missed their flight because of the queues at Border Control – some even had to spend over £1,000 on replacement journeys.
So it comes as welcome news that this tourist hotspot in the Schengen area is dropping (some of) the EES rules for British visitors, ahead of the summer rush.
That’s right: Greece is waving part of the EES regulations for British passport holders.
“We would like to inform you that within the framework of the implementation of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) as of April 10th 2026, British passport holders are excluded from biometric registration at Greek border crossing points,” an official statement from the Greek embassy in the UK reads.
The director of the Greek National Tourism Organisation in the UK, Eleni Skarveli, meanwhile, said on Friday 17 April that the move would ensure a “smoother and more efficient arrival experience in Greece” and that it “is expected to significantly reduce waiting times and ease congestion at airports.”
That said, it is not currently clear what the process will be when exiting Greece, nor how long the exemption for British passport holders will last. Condé Nast Traveller has contacted the embassy for more information.
In 2025, nearly 25 million people visited Greece between January and August alone, and the country earned €16.7 billion in travel for that same period.
What’s more, in 2022, almost 4.5 million Britons were registered at Greek entry points, a record number and nearly 3 million more than in 2021. It is understandable, then, why the nation is keen to avoid any obstacles presented by EES, particularly during peak periods.
The new EES rules, which affect all non-EU nationals, require not only the registration of entry and exit details but also the collection of biometric data, such as fingerprints and facial scans. The scheme is designed to identify suspected criminals, combat identity fraud, and police the EU’s limit on 90-day stays within a 180-day period.
In addition to the lengthy queues and travel disruption caused by the new requirements, not all participating countries were ready for the 10 April roll-out, including France, Poland and Spain, as well as Greece itself.
