# EES in France - Airport Status & Queue Guide | EESQueue

> EU Entry/Exit System status for France: which airports have EES live, kiosk counts, first-entry queue estimates and current known issues for non-EU travellers.

Source: https://eesqueue.com/france-ees-guide

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# EES in France — airport status & traveller guide

France has been in the Schengen Area since 1995-03-26. The EU Entry/Exit System is live at its external borders, registering non-EU travellers biometrically on first entry.

EES is live at 13 France airports tracked here, running at least 4 self-service kiosks between them. 9 have reported significant EES queues — the worst at Paris (up to 4h on record).

## EES airports in France

| Airport | EES status | Kiosks | First-entry est. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/biarritz-anglet-bayonne-airport) BIQ | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/bordeaux-merignac-airport) BOD | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Charles de Gaulle Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/paris-charles-de-gaulle-airport) CDG | Live | — | ~6 min |
| [EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg](https://eesqueue.com/airport/euroairport-basel-mulhouse-freiburg) BSL | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/lyon-saint-exupery-airport) LYS | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Marseille Provence Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/marseille-provence-airport) MRS | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Montpellier-Méditerranée Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/montpellier-mediterranee-airport) MPL | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Nantes Atlantique Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/nantes-atlantique-airport) NTE | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/nice-cote-dazur-airport) NCE | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Paris-Beauvais Tillé Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/paris-beauvais-tille-airport) BVA | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Paris-Orly Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/paris-orly-airport) ORY | Live | 4 | ~5 min |
| [Strasbourg Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/strasbourg-airport) SXB | Live | — | ~5 min |
| [Toulouse-Blagnac Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/toulouse-blagnac-airport) TLS | Live | — | ~5 min |

## Current known issues

**Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD):** "Chaos since the start of this system" - flagged as the worst of French airports by The Local France (5 May 2026), single queue for all passport holders; airport trialing "Physical AI" LiDAR crowd-monitoring (Outsight) since 16 Mar 2026 to detect overcapacity and dynamically open extra desks

**Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG):** Kiosk throughput ~35% below forecast; ~12 dedicated EES lanes; Parafe e-gates reopened as a workaround; T2E pre-enrolment pods now launched

**Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS):** Deployed eGates and kiosks via a >€13M contract (CITY ONE, tendered 30 Oct 2024) plus the MONA biometric system ahead of the 10 Apr 2026 EES go-live, reportedly avoiding the kiosk scramble seen at other French airports

🛂 **Flex mode:** France has activated "flex mode": officers may revert to faster manual passport stamping when queues get long. A stamp issued under flex mode is a valid entry record.

Visiting more than one Schengen country? Your 90-day allowance is shared across all of them. Track it with the [90/180 calculator](https://eesqueue.com/schengen-calculator).

**Live queues:** see current first-entry and exit waits at France's airports on our [live EES wait times](https://eesqueue.com/ees-wait-times) page.

## EES essentials

### Who does EES apply to?

EES applies to non-EU nationals travelling to the Schengen Area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. That includes visa-exempt nationalities (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and others) as well as short-stay Schengen visa holders.

### Who is exempt from EES?

EU, EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) and Swiss citizens are exempt. Also exempt: holders of long-stay (national) visas, holders of EU residence permits, diplomats and service-passport holders on official travel, NATO SOFA-status personnel, stateless persons with refugee travel documents, and holders of local border traffic permits.

### How long does first-entry EES registration take?

Typically 3 to 7 minutes per traveler on first entry, depending on the airport, kiosk availability, and language selection. Families and groups should expect longer total times. Airports with pre-registration apps (Finland, Netherlands, some French terminals) can shorten this to under 2 minutes.

### Will I still get a passport stamp?

Usually no. From 10 April 2026, passport stamping was discontinued as the default across the Schengen Area and entries are recorded digitally in EES. However, several countries - including Italy (until 30 September 2026), Belgium, Germany, France, Greece and Switzerland - have activated a formal "flex mode" that allows border police to revert to manual passport stamping whenever queues exceed set thresholds (e.g. 45 minutes in Italy, 25 minutes in Belgium). Stamps issued under flex mode are valid entry records.

### Does EES apply at land borders?

Yes. EES applies at every external Schengen land border, including road crossings from the UK (Dover/Calais and the Eurotunnel), Turkey into Greece and Bulgaria, Moldova into Romania, and non-Schengen Balkan routes into Croatia and Slovenia. Expect longer queues at road crossings during the initial months.