What is already in operation, what is not, and the official text behind every date, as read on the day shown.
Where it stands on the day we read it
The EES is fully in operation. ETIAS is not, and no start date has been announced. Read on .
EES
In operation since 12 October 2025, in stages, and fully operational at every external border crossing point of the 29 countries that use it since 10 April 2026. It replaces the passport stamp and counts the 90 days in any 180 automatically.
Not in operation. No applications are collected. The EU says it will announce the specific start date several months before the launch, and neither the ETIAS website nor the Commission's page gives one.
EUR 20 per application, set by the Commission in 2025 in place of the EUR 7 written in the regulation. It is not payable yet. Applicants under 18 or over 70 pay nothing, nor do family members of an EU national who meet the conditions.
Three years or until the passport used expires, whichever comes first. It allows 90 days in any 180 days and does not give an automatic right of entry.
A visa-exempt traveller who is not an EU national and holds no residence card or residence permit of a country that requires ETIAS. The ETIAS website lists the United States among the 59 visa-exempt countries and territories it will apply to, and 30 European countries will require it.
Holders of residence permits and long-stay visas are not registered, nor are nationals of the countries using the system or non-EU family members who hold a residence card and are immediately related to an EU national. The site's own example: an American married to a French national visiting France is registered as a regular traveller.
Once ETIAS starts, the regulation makes it optional for six months, then gives six months of grace in which a first-time crosser without it may still be let through. The Commission may extend each period. This is the text of the regulation, not a date: the start date is not set.
Its France page says no visa is required for stays under 90 days and asks for a passport valid three months beyond the date of departure from the Schengen area. It does not mention the EES or ETIAS.
The rule has not changed: an American may stay 90 days in any 180 days in the Schengen area, counted as one period across all the countries. What changed on 10 April 2026 is who counts. The EES records each entry and exit and works out the days left by itself, so a border officer no longer reads stamps. The official site says an overstay is recorded and that a traveller who has already used 90 days in 180 is refused entry.
ETIAS adds a step before the trip and does not replace anything. It is not in operation, no application is open, and any site that takes a fee for it today is not the official one. When it starts, a short-stay American will need it and the EES record. An American with a French residence permit or a long-stay visa is outside the EES and does not need ETIAS while holding the permit.
Newest first. Each line names the official text and the day we read it.
2026
The ETIAS site says again that it applies to Americans and costs EUR 20
A news article for travel agents says ETIAS will be required for short stays in 30 European countries and will apply to nationals of 59 visa-exempt countries and territories, the United States among them. It repeats the fee of EUR 20 and the validity of three years or until the passport expires. It gives no start date: it says applications can be made on the official website or app once ETIAS starts, and not before.
The EES is fully operational and the passport stamp ends
The progressive start ends on 9 April 2026. From 10 April 2026 the EES is fully operational at all external border crossing points of the European countries using it, the manual stamping of passports is abolished, and the automated calculator of the remaining stay and the list of overstayers start working.
The Commission had set 12 October 2025 as the launch date of the progressive start. For six months the countries brought the system in step by step, so a traveller's biometric data may not have been collected at every crossing point at first. The stage ran until 9 April 2026.
The Commission fixes 12 October 2025 as the date from which the EES starts operating, the decision that Article 66(1) of the EES regulation leaves to it once its conditions are met.
Regulation (EU) 2025/1534, adopted on 18 July 2025 and published on 23 July, enters into force on 26 July. It defines the progressive start as 180 days from the date the Commission sets. Over that period it asks each country to register at least 10 % of its border crossings by day 30, to run biometrics at half of its crossing points by day 90 and at all by day 150, and to register all travellers by day 170. It requires stamping to continue meanwhile and tells national authorities to ignore the calculator.
The ETIAS website announces that the fee will rise to EUR 20 from EUR 7, following an adjustment proposed by the Commission, which then goes through a two-month review by the Council and the European Parliament. The article also says travellers will have to apply from the last quarter of 2026. The ETIAS site and the Commission's page no longer carry that period and give no date.
The ETIAS regulation enters into force with no start date
Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 is adopted on 12 September 2018 and enters into force on 9 October 2018. It applies from a date the Commission sets once its conditions are met (Article 88). It fixes the fee at EUR 7, waived under 18 and over 70 (Article 18), and the validity at three years or until the end of the travel document (Article 36). Article 83 gives a six-month optional period and a six-month grace period after the start.
Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 of 30 November 2017, published on 9 December 2017, enters into force on 29 December 2017. It applies from the date the Commission sets (Article 66). It keeps a record for three years after an exit, and for five years after the end of the authorised stay when no exit is recorded (Article 34).
The delegated act that sets the ETIAS fee at EUR 20: the amount is stated by the ETIAS website and the Commission's page, and we did not open the act itself.
A French border police or Ministry of the Interior page on the EES at French borders: none was found that we could read, so nothing is said here about queues or lanes at French airports.
The ETIAS news article of 16 April 2026 on UK nationals, and the one of 18 December 2025 on land travel: not opened.
How to cite this page
EasyFranceNow, "The EU border system and ETIAS for Americans", https://easyfrancenow.com/updates/ees-etias, read on Oct 28, 2026.
The dates and amounts belong to the official pages named on each line. Cite the page you used. The chronology and the read days are ours.
