The official Travel to Europe app is real, free and built by Frontex, but it is far narrower than most travellers assume. As of August 2026 it only works for arrivals into and departures from Sweden and Portugal, at a short list of airports.
Last updated: 13 August 2026.
It also will not get you past the queue. Pre-registration shortens your own transaction at the kiosk or booth, and your fingerprints are still taken in person by a border guard.
Can you use it? Check this first
The app is only worth opening if all five of these are true, and none of them is negotiable.
- You are a non-EU national on a short stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
- You do not hold an EU long-stay visa or residence permit, and you are not otherwise exempt from EES.
- You have a biometric passport, the kind with the chip symbol on the cover. The app reads that chip, so a non-biometric passport will not work.
- Your phone has NFC and a front camera, running Android 10 or later, or iOS 16 or later.
- You are arriving in or leaving from Sweden or Portugal, at a border crossing point the app actually lists.
If any one of these fails, do nothing. There is no penalty for skipping pre-registration, and you simply go through the normal border check.
Where the app works right now
Adoption is voluntary for each country, so most of the Schengen area has nothing to pre-register into.
| Country | What the app can do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden | Passport data, facial image and the entry questionnaire | Stockholm Arlanda, Bromma, Landvetter, Sturup and Skavsta |
| Portugal | Entry questionnaire only, which produces a QR code to scan at the self-service kiosks | Lisbon first, with further airports added since |
| Every other EES country | Nothing. Your border crossing point will not appear in the app | Not available |
Pilots with France, the Netherlands and Italy have been planned with Frontex, but none is open to travellers. If you search the app and your airport is not on the list, that is your answer: use the standard border process instead.
The timing window most people get wrong
You can build the trip a week ahead, but the submit button stays inactive until 72 hours before your travel date.
- Create a journey: up to 7 days before your intended travel date.
- Submit a journey: at the earliest 72 hours before that date.
- Passport scan and selfie: valid for 7 days, after which you repeat the whole traveller setup.
- Unsubmitted drafts: never sent, and automatically deleted after 7 days.
- Travelling again inside 7 days: your passport data is still held, so you only need to retake the facial image.
That 72-hour gate is the single most common reason people think the app is broken. If the button is greyed out, you are simply too early.
How to pre-register, step by step
The whole flow takes a few minutes on a decent connection, and it can be done from home before you leave.
- Download the official app. It is free on the Apple App Store and Google Play, published by the European Union. Fake EES apps and paid “registration” sites are common, so check the publisher.
- Accept the eligibility check. The first screens confirm you are a non-EU short-stay traveller without a residence permit or long-stay visa.
- Create the journey. Choose arriving or departing, then the country, then the date and a time band of morning, afternoon or evening.
- Pick your border crossing point. Filter by airport, harbour or land crossing, since the search only looks inside the type you have selected.
- Set a 6-digit PIN. It cannot be recovered, so if you forget it you must reinstall the app and lose everything saved in it. Enable fingerprint or face login on the next screen if you want a faster way back in.
- Add the traveller. Scan the photo page including the machine-readable strip at the bottom, then hold the phone flat against the passport to read the chip.
- Take the selfie. Neutral expression, no tinted glasses or headwear covering the face, good light. The screen flashes colours during the liveness check, which matters if you are photosensitive.
- Answer the entry questionnaire about your trip and stay, then use “Add co-traveller” for anyone else on the booking. There is no limit on how many people share one journey.
- Submit the journey. The label changes to “Journey submitted”, then to “Journey received” once national authorities have it. In some countries the button instead reads “Share with officials” and produces a QR code you show on your screen.
If the app errors, or your submission is rejected, nothing is lost. You go to the regular border check and follow the instructions of the local authorities.
What still happens at the border
You still queue, you still stop, and a guard still looks at your passport.
- Fingerprints are taken in person. The app cannot collect them for technical reasons, so a first-time registrant still visits a kiosk or booth.
- Your travel document is still checked manually by a passport control officer.
- Entry is not guaranteed. The app confirms only that your data was received, never that you may enter.
- Keep the QR code reachable. Where one is generated, it may be requested on arrival, and it must be shown on your device screen.
- Children under 12 are not fingerprinted, though every traveller including babies is photographed and gets a digital record.
If you have crossed a Schengen external border since April, you are already enrolled. Your EES record lasts three years or until your passport expires, and later crossings need only one biometric rather than the full first-time registration.
Does it actually save time?
A little, and only inside your own transaction at the booth, which is not the same thing as a shorter queue.
Sweden’s early use of the app at Arlanda was reported to improve the efficiency of the procedure by around 25 percent, and pre-registering can remove the self-service kiosk step entirely. The European Commission puts a completed EES check at roughly 70 seconds.
- The queue is set by staffing, not by you. Qsensor data reported by the Financial Times in August put July peak waits at roughly 120 minutes at Frankfurt and Amsterdam, and about 60 minutes at Munich, all roughly double the previous year.
- Biometric capture is being paused at some hubs, including Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels and Milan, under a temporary EU mechanism that lets a country switch off biometric collection in short renewable blocks.
- That mechanism is currently set to expire on 6 September 2026. Nine countries using EES asked the Commission to keep it available beyond that date, and no extension has been formally confirmed.
- A skipped fingerprint scan does not pause your clock. Your entry and exit still go into the EES database, your document is still checked, and your 90 days in 180 still count down.
Plan the border into your booking, not just the app
Because the app covers so few crossings, your itinerary does more for your border time than your phone does.
Your EES registration happens at the first external border you cross, not at your final destination. A one-stop routing through Stockholm means you register in Sweden, where the app is fully supported.
- Give a Schengen entry connection real margin. In peak summer, treat the minimum legal connection time at a busy entry hub as optimistic and look for a longer layover.
- Compare arrival hours, not just fares. A flight landing outside the morning and late-afternoon banks can be the difference between a ten-minute check and a two-hour one.
- Check the current picture before you fly with our EES border queue tracker, then search flights and hotels on Wego once you know which arrival time you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is EES pre-registration mandatory?
No. Your EES data is captured at the border regardless, and the app is voluntary for travellers and for the countries that offer it.
Does the Travel to Europe app work for my destination?
Only if you are arriving in or leaving from Sweden or Portugal at a supported crossing point. Sweden accepts passport data, facial image and the questionnaire, Portugal accepts the questionnaire only, and pilots for France, the Netherlands and Italy are not open to travellers.
Do I still need to give fingerprints if I pre-register?
Yes. Fingerprints can only be taken at the border in the presence of a border guard, and travellers under 12 are exempt from fingerprinting entirely.
How long does a submission stay valid?
A submission covers the single journey you created it for. The passport data and facial image held in the app expire after 7 days, and any journey you never submitted is deleted on the same timetable.
Do I need to pre-register if I am only transiting?
No. If you stay inside the international transit area of a European airport you are not registered in EES at all, so there is nothing to pre-register for that country.
Is the app the same as ETIAS?
No. EES is the biometric entry and exit record handled at the border, while ETIAS is a separate travel authorisation that is not in operation and has been delayed indefinitely with no new launch date. No ETIAS applications are being collected, so ignore any site asking you to apply or pay.
Does pre-registering cost anything?
No. The official app is free, and no legitimate service charges a fee for EES registration.
Sources
- Frontex (the app’s purpose, the 72-hour window, fingerprints at the border, voluntary adoption by member states)
- Travel to Europe app FAQ, European Union (eligibility, Sweden and Portugal functionality, 7-day data retention, transit, co-travellers, QR code)
- Travel to Europe app user guide, European Union (the step-by-step flow, PIN, chip reading, liveness check, submission and QR sharing)
- Swedish Police Authority (the five Swedish airports accepting pre-registration)
- Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa portal (Portugal’s questionnaire-only implementation and the QR code at self-service kiosks)
- Apple App Store listing (the app is live, free and published by the European Union)
- The Local (Arlanda efficiency gain, Portugal’s rollout, skipping the kiosk stage)
- Il Post (Qsensor and Financial Times July queue data for Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Munich)
- Euronews (ETIAS delayed indefinitely, no applications being collected)
- GOV.UK (under-12 fingerprint exemption, three-year validity of an EES record)
- European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs (EES fully operational since 10 April 2026 across 29 countries, and the data it registers)
Disclaimer: Wego strives to ensure all information presented in this article is accurate and up to date at the time of publication. Travel policies, prices, visa requirements, and conditions can change rapidly. We strongly recommend verifying critical details with official sources before making travel decisions. Wego does not accept liability for any inaccuracies, oversights, or changes that may occur after publication.
