EES at Greek island airports: what to expect in August

Every non-EU short-stay visitor landing in Greece at any Schengen external border crossing goes through EES. That includes Athens and Thessaloniki, and it includes the island airports too: Heraklion and Chania on Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Mykonos, Santorini, Kos and Zakynthos. The biometric process is identical wherever you land. What varies is the infrastructure behind it, and at the smaller terminals that gap matters in August.

Does the UK exemption still apply?

No. In April 2026 the Greek embassy in London said British passport holders would be excluded from biometric registration at Greek borders for the summer. The European Commission responded that the legal framework does not foresee a blanket exemption for specific nationalities and asked Athens for clarification. By mid-May, Greece said the system was fully operational and rejected reports of a formal exemption, the Associated Press reported. Britons now face the same EES process as other non-EU visitors. If you last visited Greece before mid-May and have not crossed another Schengen border since April, your first visit this summer may include full biometric registration.

What does EES actually involve at the desk?

The process splits into two depending on whether you have been registered before.

• First-time registration (if your biometrics are not yet in EES, for example because this is your first Schengen entry since EES started on 12 October 2025): the officer scans your passport, captures a facial image and, if you do not need a visa, takes four fingerprints. Your travel dates and border crossing point are recorded. The Commission puts the average registration at 70 seconds; the queue is what takes the time.
• Return visits (within the three-year data retention window): the officer or a kiosk reads your passport and verifies your fingerprints and photo against the stored record rather than registering them again. This is considerably quicker.

Children under 12 are exempt from fingerprinting under EES rules, though a facial image is still taken and their passport data recorded. The full age rules for families are here.

Why island airports take longer than hub airports

Santorini, Mykonos, Kos, Corfu and Zakynthos all handle heavy summer traffic through small terminals. The smaller the airport, the fewer border officers it tends to have and the less likely you are to find self-service EES kiosks.

Where a self-service system is available, passengers with a biometric passport can complete part of the process at a kiosk before a brief officer check. At smaller terminals, that infrastructure may be limited or absent. Officers handle every step manually. On a full charter flight of 180 passengers, the majority of them doing first-time registration, the desk becomes the bottleneck.

The European Commission’s State of Schengen report has urged member states to make greater use of automation at the borders and to deploy enough border guards. Even so, if you land at a small island airport in August on a flight from outside Schengen, leave more buffer than you would at a major hub.

Does this change how your 90-day Schengen allowance is counted?

No. Your 90 days in any 180-day period runs from the moment you first enter the Schengen area at an external border. Landing in Santorini on a direct flight from London starts that clock just as landing in Paris would. Island-hopping within Greece is internal movement and does not add extra days, because you never leave and re-enter the Schengen area between islands.

If you plan to cross into Turkey from one of the eastern Aegean islands (Rhodes, Kos, Lesvos, Chios) and return, that is a genuine exit and re-entry. EES will record both crossings, and the days you spend in Turkey do not count against your Schengen allowance.

What about ferry arrivals from outside Schengen?

EES applies at sea border crossing points as well as airports. If you arrive in Greece by ferry from Turkey or any other non-Schengen country, the port of entry processes your EES registration. The same first-time versus return logic applies, so allow extra time at eastern Aegean ports with regular routes to Turkish coastal cities.

Practical notes before you travel

• Carry your physical passport. Biometric verification requires the physical document. A photo of it will not work.
• Have it ready before the queue. Not in your hold luggage or at the bottom of a bag.
• If you have already been registered this year, your visit to a Greek airport will be quicker: officers check against the stored record rather than registering you from scratch.
• Allow more time for same-day connections. If your plan includes landing in Heraklion and catching a ferry the same afternoon, build in extra margin at border control.
• ETIAS is not yet live and is not required for travel to Greece this summer. The current position on timing is on the status page. No action is required yet. Applications are not open.