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Reader question: Can foreign arrivals use the e-gates at German airports?

If you live in Germany on a non-EU passport, you may well be sick of waiting in endless queues at border control whenever you re-enter the country. Luckily, the automated e-gates could be a solution for some. Here's who can use them.

Published: 26 October 2023 14:52 CEST
Updated: 3 January 2024 10:50 CET
EasyPASS
An EasyPASS reader. Photo: picture alliance / Matthias Balk/dpa | Matthias Balk

Those of us who come from non-EU countries – including Brits after Brexit – will be very familiar with the sinking feeling you get when you see the queue at passport control snaking around the corridor and down the hall.

After a long journey, all you want to do is get back home as quickly as possible, but as you stand in line with all the internationals at the “All Passports” section, the idea of making the next train into the city may seem like a distant dream.

As you stare enviously at the Germans whizzing through the automated passport gates, you may wonder if that’s an option for you -´but is it worth risking your place in the queue to try it out? It may well be – providing you fulfil certain criteria.

Who can use the EASYPass e-gates?

As you may assume, anyone with a valid EU passport is able to use the e-gates – provided they are over the age of 12. That means that, alongside Germans, travellers from any of the EU’s 27 member states can take advantage of the automated EasyPass system, regardless of whether they live in Germany.

This doesn’t just apply to full members of the EU, however: it also includes countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), who also have free movement rights in Europe. That applies to citizens of Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein. 

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to prove you’re a resident in Germany

In addition, people from Switzerland can get an expedited trip through passport control via the e-gates.

According to the website of the Federal Police, the following non-EU and non-EEA residents can also use the EasyPass gates:

  • People with a German residence permit or long-term visa who also have a valid electronic passport (over the age of 12)
  • People aged 18 and over from with a passport from the USA, Taiwan, South Korea or Hong Kong who are registered for the EasyPass RTP system

What kind of residence permits are accepted?

In general, any electronic residence permit with the e-ID symbol (pictured below) should be valid for the airport e-gates.

Electronic residence permit

Symbols denoting a valid electronic residence permit. Source: Bundespolizei

This includes:

  • Ordinary residence permits (Aufenthaltserlaubnis)  
  • Permanent residence permits (Daueraufenthaltskarte and Erlaubnis zum Daueraufenthalt EU, Niederlassungserlaubnis) 
  • Permits for spouses of EU citizens (Aufenthaltskarte für Familienangehörige von Unionsbürgern) 
  • EU Blue Cards
  • ICT cards 
  • Post-Brexit residence permits (Aufenthaltstitel-GB) 

How does it all work?

When you arrive at border control, you should see a set of electronic passport gates next to the ordinary passport control booths. Simply take your passport out and place the photo page face-down on the scanners. 

Be sure to look at the camera so that your image can be recorded and compared with the biometric photo on the system.

E-gates EasyPass Frankfurt Airport

A woman scans her passport at the e-gates at Frankfurt airport. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Boris Roessler

If everything works as it should, there should be no need to present your residence permit. After confirming your identity, the gates should open and allow you to stroll on through. 

What if it doesn’t let me through?

If the e-gates don’t work for you, there could be a few different reasons for that. Firstly, the facial recognition won’t work if you’re covering your face or head in anyway, so hair coverings, headscarves, sunglasses and face masks should be taken off beforehand.

Assuming you’ve done this – and you’re over the age of 12 – you should check that your electronic passport and residence permit are both still valid for travel. Remember: only your passport needs to be scanned at the e-gates, so don’t try and use the residence permit itself!

Visas are also only valid for exiting the country rather than re-entering, so visa-holders will be unable to use the EasyPass gates on arrival in Germany. Residence permit holders, on the other hand, should be able to use the gates in both directions.

If you’ve checked all the above and it still doesn’t work, you may want to be in touch with your local immigration office to ensure that your personal data, your current electronic passport and your current residence title or visa have all been entered correctly in the Central Register of Foreigners. 

Another potential issue is that the chip in your electronic passport may not be readable in Germany or you may not have a biometric photo stored on the system. 

READ ALSO: What is Germany’s electronic ID card and how do you use it?

Is there anything I should do beforehand?

Anyone travelling on a US, Hong Kong, Taiwanese or South Korean passport who wants to use EasyPass RTP system should be sure to register in person at one of the police service points at German airports beforehand. 

For holders of electronic residence permits, it may also be worth activating the e-ID function at your local immigration office and ensuring all the information on the system is fully up to date before you travel.

The Local has written to the Federal Police at Frankfurt Airport for clarification on whether the electronic function needs to be activated before travel. We’ll update you as soon as we hear back. 

Member comments

  1. Anyone travelling on a US, Hong Kong, Taiwanese or South Korean passport who wants to use EasyPass RTP system should be sure to register online beforehand.

    It has to be done in person at an office for all of these nationalities except South Koreans.

  2. Thanks! As a UK Passport holder resident in DE, I am blocked by British Airways from leaving the UK unless I show my Aufenthaltstitel. BA wrongly believe a German Residency Card is a “Travel Document” that MUST be shown under the Terms of Carriage. Worst case, my UK passport gets stamped. By denying me Airside access w/o Check-in, I lose my Rights as a UK Passport Holder. This proves my case i.e no need to show my Aufenthaltstitel at Border Control, because I can now use e-Passport Gates.

  3. Great to hear this and many thanks for sharing.

    Often wondered why EU passport holders could freely use the egates when entering UK and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t reciprocated especially for UK passport holders with German residency (Aufenthaltstitel-GB) when returning to Germany.

  4. EasyPASS-RTP participants in particular must proceed to the control desk after eGate and obtain a stamp on their passport.
    From easypass.de:
    “Then proceed to the border control desk directly behind the eGates. You will be briefly questioned again there and receive your entry or exit stamp. After that, the border control process is complete.”
    Some border guards may not be fully aware of the RTP-specific stamping requirement. One had to proactively seek a stamp to avoid any misunderstanding later.

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TRAVEL NEWS

EES: Why is the UK-France border such a problem for the EU’s new biometric passport checks?

The EU's proposed new system of passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System will apply to all of the Bloc's external borders - so why are most of the warning lights coming from the France-UK border? And is it really Brexit related?

Published: 8 May 2024 12:03 CEST
EES: Why is the UK-France border such a problem for the EU's new biometric passport checks?

The EU’s new Entry & Exit System of enhanced passport checks – including biometric checks like facial scans and fingerprints – is due to come into effect later this year.

You can read a full explanation of how it works HERE and see our frequently-asked-questions section HERE, including information for non-EU citizens who are resident in an EU country and the system for dual nationals.

EES will apply to the whole of the EU and Schengen zone and will apply at external borders, but not for travel within the Schengen zone itself (eg between France and Germany or Italy and Switzerland).

You can hear the team at The Local discuss the latest developments on EES on the Talking France podcast – listen here or on the link below

The EU has plenty of external borders from land borders such as the Greece-Albania border to the airport frontiers that occur when, for example, an American flies into Italy.

But while several nations have expressed concern that their infrastructure is not ready, the loudest and most dire warnings are coming about the border between France and the UK.

READ ALSO Travellers between France and UK could face ’14-hour queues’ due to new passport system

So why is this border such a problem?

The problems with the UK France border are threefold; volume of traffic, space and juxtaposed borders.

Volume of traffic – This is simply a very busy border crossing, about 60 million passengers a year cross it by ferry, plane, Channel Tunnel or Eurostar. For people travelling from the UK, especially those crossing by car on the ferry or Channel Tunnel, France is simply a stopping point as they head into Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands or to Spain or Italy.

Around 70 percent of those passengers are British, which means they will have to do the EES checks.

READ ALSO Could the launch of EES be delayed again?

Space – The second problem is to do with the space that is required to process all those passengers as several crossing points – especially the Port of Dover and the embarkation area at London St Pancras – are quite crowded and for various reasons don’t have room to expand.

Extra infrastructure is required to complete EES pre-registration checks and this will be difficult to physically fit into some crossing points – for context the EES pre-registration area for the Channel Tunnel at Coquelles covers 7,000 square metres.

Juxtaposed border controls – the UK-France border is also unique within the EU because of its juxtaposed border controls, which are the result of a bilateral agreement between France and the UK known as the Le Touquet agreement.

Juxtaposed border controls exist at Paris Gare du Nord and London St Pancras for those using the Eurostar, the ports of Dover and Calais and the Channel Tunnel terminals at Folkestone and Coquelles – these mean that when you leave the UK you get your passport checked by both British and French authorities, and then there are no passport checks when you arrive in France – and vice versa.

This means that if there is a hold-up at one border control it has a knock-on effect on the other and means that very long queues can quickly build up – as has been seen several times at the Port of Dover since Brexit.

The Brexit effect

Part of the problem with the UK-France border is that discussions about EES began while the UK was still a member of the EU, and then the conversation changed once it had left.

However, even when it was in the EU, the UK never joined the Schengen zone so there were always passport checks for travellers between France and the UK.

The difference is that EU citizens are exempt from EES – so those 70 percent of passengers crossing that border who are British would have been exempt from the changes had it not been for Brexit.

French and other EU citizens remain exempt and will not have to complete EES pre-registration once the system is up and running. 

Therefore EES would have only applied to a tiny minority of travellers entering the UK – for example American tourists arriving into London – which logistically would be a much easier challenge, especially for the Port of Dover whose customers are overwhelmingly either British or EU nationals.

What about Ireland?

Had it not been for Brexit, the UK would have been in a similar situation as Ireland is now – since Ireland is a member of the EU but not the Schengen zone.

Under the new system Ireland will not use the EES system at its own borders and will carry on manually stamping passports.

However, anyone who has an Irish passport will be exempt from EES when they are travelling within Europe – for dual nationals this only applies of they are travelling on their Irish passport.

READ ALSO Your questions answered about the EU’s new EES system

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