PASSPORT: Europe ends passport stamps from October ’25 — what Australians need to know

From 12 October 2025, the European Union will begin phasing in its new Entry/Exit System (EES), which will replace those colourful little passport stamps with digital kiosks, facial images and fingerprint scans. By April 2026, passport stamps will be fully gone across the 29 countries of the Schengen Zone.

If you’ve been clinging to your passport as a souvenir scrapbook – sorry, those days are over.

How the new system works

On your first visit after October 2025, you’ll need to:

• Hand over your passport at a staffed booth or kiosk
• Have a photo taken
• Submit fingerprints (usually four fingers on each hand)

This data will be stored in the EU’s system for three years, or until your passport expires.

On subsequent trips, you can skip the staffed booth and head straight for a kiosk: scan your passport, tap a finger, smile for the camera – and you’re through.

Schengen Zone only

The scheme covers only the Schengen Zone’s 29 countries, which include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The scheme does not cover European countries that are not included in the Schengen Zone. That means it doesn’t apply to the United Kingdom, amongst others.

What this means for Australian travellers

• Expect queues at first: The EU acknowledges that airports may experience congestion when everyone needs to register. That could mean initial hour-long waits at Paris, Frankfurt, and Rome from October to December 2025.
• Repeat entries become easier: Once you’re in the system, it’ll be faster on future visits, as you can head straight to the kiosks instead of queuing for the staffed booths.
• Say goodbye to stamps: No more flipping through your passport to show off those trips. Border officers won’t stamp even if you ask nicely.

Why the EU is doing this

This European Union initiative is to increase efficiency and security. The EES system will: assist in tracking overstayers, detect fake identities, provide law enforcement bodies with more data on travellers — now they have your fingerprints! And finally, it should become more efficient, eventually with the implementation of automated kiosks.

Next up: ETIAS visa waiver

Once the EES is up and running, the EU will roll out ETIAS – its version of the US ESTA or the UK ETA – from 2026. It will incur a fee of €20 (approximately AU$36), be valid for three years (or until your passport expires), and will be mandatory for Australians and other visa-waiver nationals.

2PAXfly Takeout

Aside from the charge, this is a very welcome development. All the world needs to do is to put all of these apps into one, so you can complete it without downloading a gazillion different apps for different countries. I wouldn’t be holding my breath for that development.

Is it all worth foregoing the nostalgia of country entry and exit stamps? Oh, for simpler, more innocent times!