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New fingerprint checks for Brits could lead to long queues at Balearic airports next year

More Brexit problems around the corner

Travelling to Mallorca will be even more complicated next year. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

| Palma |

Now that the UK is a “third country” as a result of Brexit, the mountain of travel documents needed to enter the EU is continuing to rise and at a cost.

Extra passport checks - requiring non-EU citizens to provide photographs and fingerprints - are expected to increase processing times almost seven-fold.

The EU’s new entry-exit system is going to be introduced in May next year.
The EU’s new system of biometric checks will apply to British passport-holders travelling to Europe’s Schengen Area via airports, ports or border checkpoints.

Travellers will be required to provide a facial image and four fingerprints. Only children under 12 will be exempt.

And, from November 2023, UK travellers will also have to apply for a visa-waiver, which will cost €7 and be valid for three years.

The European Travel Information and Authorisation Scheme (Etias) will allow non-EU travellers to visit the Schengen Area without a full visa.

It was due to be introduced at the same time as the biometric checks at the border, but the European Commision has postponed it by six months.

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