Faro Airport's New Biometric Border Checks: What Families Need to Know

Since 6 September, passengers subject to the EU's Entry/Exit System arriving at Portuguese airports from outside the Schengen area have faced mandatory biometric registration, including fingerprints and a photograph. And of all the country's airports, Faro is the one feeling it most.

João Ribeiro, the PSP's deputy national director and head of the National Unit for Foreigners and Borders, told the Lusa news agency this month that full biometric collection is running smoothly at every Portuguese airport except Faro, which is under the greatest pressure. The reason will be familiar to anyone who has stood in arrivals here in high season: weather and air traffic delays bunch flights together, and on one recent occasion more than 10 flights landed within 25 minutes, most of them carrying British passengers.

What that means in practice is potentially longer waits. At Lisbon Airport, the PSP says processing times have increased from around 5 to 15 minutes to 15 to 30 minutes since full biometric collection began. Faro is experiencing greater pressure, particularly when delayed flights arrive close together, so queues here can vary considerably depending on the time of day.

For most families here, the way this bites is simple: collecting visitors. If grandparents or friends are flying in from the UK, add a comfortable buffer before anything you book on the back of their arrival, whether that is a transfer, a restaurant table or a tee time. Warn them in advance that the queue is normal, that the fingerprint and photo step is routine, and that it is the same system now operating across the EU, not something Faro has invented.

If you live here and hold a Portuguese residence permit, there is good news: the EES does not apply to you. The European Commission's official guidance confirms that holders of residence permits and long-stay visas issued by an EU country are exempt from biometric registration. Travel with your passport and the residence document that establishes the exemption.

It is also worth knowing that the pressure at Faro is being managed rather than ignored. The PSP says the system is operating fluidly nationally, and the airport's difficulty is the pattern of arrivals rather than the technology itself. At the time of writing there is no published plan to change procedures at Faro specifically, so the sensible assumption for the autumn half term and Christmas travel season is that the checks, and the queues, are here to stay.

The short version for your family: nothing about EES changes who can come to Portugal or how long they can stay. It changes how long the hello takes. Allow extra time, tell your visitors what to expect, and keep your residence permit in your hand luggage rather than the suitcase.