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The introduction of the Entry/Exit System (EES) is underway at Lapland airports

Publication date 19.12.2025 12.36
Type:News item
A passenger places four fingers of their right hand on a fingerprint scanner during border control.

The Entry/Exit System (EES) started to be operational on 12 October 2025. In Finland, in Lapland Border Guard District and at the Lapland airports, the EES is introduced gradually, while taking into consideration the hectic winter travel season.

We recommend that all non-EU nationals planning to travel to Finland familiarize themselves with the new system on the official EES-website.
Implementation of the Entry/Exit Sytem does not affect the border control of Finnish or other EU nationals.

Implementation of the EES in Lapland starts with a prepatory phase

At Lapland airports there is a preparatory phase for introducing the EES. During this phase, the EES is implemented only for some passengers, not systematically for all passengers on the arriving airplanes. 

The purpose of the preparatory phase is to perform systems checks and to train the Border Guards for operating the new elements, such as collection of biometrical data. 

The passengers are requested to be patient in case of slight momentarily increase of the duration of the border check caused by the testing and training. 

The aim of the preparatory phase is to keep border checks safe and secure yet flowing. The passengers are requested to pay attention to instructions on how to contribute for successful collection of the biometrical data.

Systematical implementation of the EES in Lapland will start in January 2026

The systematical implementation of the EES and the collection of biometrical data for the all arriving passengers is planned to start one airport at a time in January 2026, according to the schedule below:

  • Ivalo airport – 1st week of 2026
  • Enontekiö airport – 2nd week of 2026
  • Kittilä airport – 3rd week of 2026
  • Rovaniemi airport – 4th week of 2026

The systematical implementation of the EES starts with one arriving flight per day. The number of arriving flights targeted by the EES is increased gradually, towards full implementation by the end of the season, when all arriving and exiting passengers’ border checks are done using the EES. 

In case a passenger arriving in Lapland is already registered in the EES somewhere else in the Schengen area, the passenger’s biometrical data is verified with the already registered personal EES file’s biometrical data.

Automated border control is not in use in Lapland airports

Passengers are kindly requested to notice that at Lapland airports there are no Self-Service Kiosks and no Automated Border Control (ABC) eGates. Travel to Europe application is not implemented in Finland either. All passengers go through manual border control. Instructions on how a manual border check is carried out are included in the infographic below.
Finnish Border Guard Lapland Border Guard Matkustaminen Raja - uutinen Älykkäät rajat