EES in Spain: Border checks to be rolled out on Mallorca in November

The EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) for non-EU residents is expected to be rolled out in Palma de Mallorca on November 19th 2025, the Balearic press has reported.

The new passport check system started being implemented in many European countries on October 12th and will be rolled out across much of the bloc for the next six months until April 10th 2026.

To be exact, this affects the 29 European countries that form part of the Schengen Area - all those in the European Union except Cyprus and Ireland, as well as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

It essentially means more checks for those from third countries - such as having photographs and fingerprints taken - and will record entries and exits from the Schengen Area for third-country nationals.

It gathers and stores:

• Details from your travel document (e.g. full name, nationality, date of birth, passport number).
• The date, time, and location of your entry and exit.
• Your facial image and fingerprints (“biometric data”).
• Any record of refused entry, where applicable.

Once the process is complete, passport stamps will be eliminated.

Madrid was the first Spanish airport to introduce the system on the very first day, Sunday October 12th. This was very much a soft launch though, as the trial run took place between 6 am and 10 am, and only processed 1,833 passengers arriving from Canada, the US, China, Argentina, Morocco and the UK.

"The system showed its stability and efficiency during the progressive connection period, with no delays or backlogs for the traveller, even with shorter processing times than usual," Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.

Since then, Seville, Tenerife North and Burgos have also introduced the EES and will continue implementing it fully over the next few weeks. It’s worth noting though that there currently there are no commercial flights to and from Burgos, Tenerife North mainly operates national flights and Seville only has flights to a handful of non-EU countries.

Therefore, the Palma de Mallorca launch could prove to be a more effective litmus test of what the new passport checks will mean at busy international airports, especially in terms of delays and given the huge volume of British tourists who visit the the island and the Mediterranean archipelago.

In 2024, more than 3.5 million UK nationals visited the biggest Balearic island.

As UK Ambassador Sir Alex Ellis told local daily El Diario de Mallorca last March, "it's a tricky subject for Mallorca and the rest of the islands given the amount of tourism there."

The British Foreign Office's Foreign Travel Advice has reminded UK travellers recently that the EES may take a few minutes longer to complete, so "be prepared to wait longer than usual at the border".

READ ALSO: UK Embassy in Spain advises Brits not travel with expired TIE cards under EES

Spanish police have pointed out that the booths and the technology with which to execute EES have been installed at Palma Airport for some time now.

However, as border authorities have opted for a staggered approach to the launch, it won't be until November 19th that these e-gates are fully operational.

Spain's Interior Ministry has invested €83 million to adapt all Spanish border crossings to the technical requirements of the EES.

These border crossings will remain under the jurisdiction of Spain's National Police, while the Civil Guard will retain its customs duties.