We've begun a new chapter in the ongoing saga that is the fraught implementation of Europe's Entry/Exit System (EES).
Turns out it's not so great at logging the exit part.
The whole point of the EES is to track the comings and goings of visitors to the European Union member states (minus Cyprus and Ireland; plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein).
Effective earlier this year, all incoming non-EU citizens, including Americans, must supply a facial photo and fingerprint scan at biometric kiosks in airports and at other international border crossings such as train stations.
The system then stores your biometric data for 3 years, theoretically resulting in smoother EU entries and exits during that time than what travelers experienced during the long era of passport stamps, which the EES has replaced.
In practice, though, the system's rollout resulted in confusion and nightmarish lines at many European airports over the summer. Some travelers missed their flights because they were stuck waiting to get fingerprinted.
Airports seem to have gotten a handle on that situation, thanks in part to a provision that let them temporarily suspend EES when lines got too long.
But now a new issue has arisen.
Reports: EES doesn't always log traveler exits
Many travelers have found that the system is erroneously flagging them for staying past the limit of time tourists are legally allowed to remain in the European Union. (For U.S. passport holders, that's up to 90 days within a 6-month period.)
These travelers did not actually overstay their EU welcomes, mind you. But the EES failed to record their exits and the system continued to count their days in the country as if they never left.
The error is discovered when the visitor tries to return to an EU country, whereupon the automated system alerts officials to the presence of an overstayer who is subject to penalties such as being banned from entry and owing fines that amount to thousands of euros—all undeserved.
That's precisely the alarming scenario that recently faced British author Jojo Moyes, according to Which?, a U.K.-based consumer advocacy organization.
When the novelist took a flight to Marseille, France, in October, she was stopped by border officials who told her she had overstayed her allowed time in Europe.
Moyes had only spent 23 days on the continent over the last 6 months—far below the up to 90 days allowed for British passport holders (the same allotment granted to U.S. citizens). But apparently the EES had failed to log her exit from Portugal following a trip in May.
"The clock had been ticking ever since," Moyes told Which? "Under Brexit rules, I was now an overstayer. The border control senior officer at Marseille warned me that I should not attempt to re-enter Europe until it is sorted out, or face a €10,000 [$11,000] fine and a 2-year ban."
Which? reports that "dozens" of travelers have reached out with similar stories.
And untangling the mess can be a costly, time-consuming ordeal.
Moyes told Which? she had to hire an immigration lawyer, and Portuguese officials informed the organization that they'll need "a lawyer-certified copy of her passport, along with proof of her exit from Portugal such as airline boarding cards, in order to amend her data."
How to check whether your exit from Europe was logged correctly
Obviously, the onus for fixing this problem shouldn't be on individual travelers. The EU should get its act together.
But until then, the bloc does maintain an online tool that lets you check whether your exit from Europe was logged correctly if you have recently visited.
First, go to this page on the EU's website: travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/check-how-long-you-can-stay.
Enter your passport number and the name of the issuing country in the appropriate fields, choose the member state you visited from the dropdown menu, and click submit.
The next page should tell you how many more days you're allowed to be in Europe without special dispensation.
For example, I went to Norway for 12 days last summer. When I checked my status with the EU's online tool, it correctly told me that I successfully departed and I have 78 days remaining in the window of time U.S. citizens are allowed to stay in Europe—i.e., up to 90 days within a 180-day (6-month) period.
So in my case the EES did its job right and recorded my exit from Norway.
What to do if you spot an error in the EU's tally of your days spent in Europe
If the EU's online tool returns an incorrect total for the number of days you spent in Europe—or if the system claims to have "incomplete data," as Euronews reports can happen—things get more complicated.
You'll need to write to the data controller for the European country where your exit was not properly recorded. You can find contact info for the data controllers for each nation participating in the EES at the EU's website.
In your email, Euronews advises, you'll need to include "a passport scan and proof of your exit," such as an airline boarding pass or train ticket showing that you did indeed leave Europe.
For that reason, when you travel to Europe you should print a copy of all boarding passes, which can be produced to prove your dates of travel, and you should not rely solely on digital boarding passes.