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

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

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

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# EES in Switzerland — airport status & traveller guide

Switzerland has been in the Schengen Area since 2008-12-12. The EU Entry/Exit System is live at its external borders, registering non-EU travellers biometrically on first entry.

EES is live at 2 Switzerland airports tracked here. 2 have reported significant EES queues — the worst at Geneva (up to 4h on record).

## EES airports in Switzerland

| Airport | EES status | Kiosks | First-entry est. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Geneva Cointrin International Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/geneva-cointrin-international-airport) GVA | Live | — | ~7 min |
| [Zurich Airport](https://eesqueue.com/airport/zurich-airport) ZRH | Live | — | ~5 min |

## Current known issues

**Geneva Cointrin International Airport (GVA):** Repeated kiosk/system freezes; worst-hit airport, advises arriving 4 hrs early; biometric flex mode active since May 2; 19 Dec 2025 queues reached 4hrs, forcing officials to shut kiosks twice; bottleneck attributed to insufficient kiosks/border lanes plus hardware outages; Swiss customs (BAZG) separately reported a 2.5hr worst-day peak during Jan/Feb 2026 ski season (70,000+ daily passengers)

**Zurich Airport (ZRH):** Biometric flex mode active since May 2; officers may skip fingerprint capture during peak surges; 8 more self-service booths planned before July holidays

🛂 **Flex mode:** Switzerland 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 Switzerland'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.