British holiday-makers and business travellers heading to Greece this summer have been handed a rare piece of good news in the otherwise fraught roll-out of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES). Athens confirmed late on 18 April that, with immediate effect, UK passport holders will not be required to provide fingerprints or facial scans when entering the country. The exemption applies at all Greek airports and seaports and will remain in place until further notice.
Travellers looking for a reliable, one-stop source of information on Greece’s evolving EES rules—as well as visa and entry requirements for other destinations—can turn to VisaHQ’s UK portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/). The platform provides real-time guidance, tailored document checklists and optional concierge assistance, helping holiday-makers and corporate travellers alike avoid last-minute border surprises.
The decision is highly significant for the UK market. More than 4 million Britons visited Greece in 2024 and the figure was expected to nudge higher this year, but tour operators had warned that mandatory biometric capture could create two-hour queues at island airports already operating close to capacity. By retaining the familiar ‘quick-stamp’ procedure for UK nationals, Greece hopes to keep its competitiveness against rival Mediterranean destinations and avoid scenes of chaos witnessed at some Schengen gateways since EES went live on 10 April. Industry bodies have applauded the move. The UK director of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, Eleni Skarveli, said the policy would “significantly reduce waiting times and ease congestion at airports,” while ABTA described it as “an early win for pragmatic border management.” Travel companies are already adjusting customer advisories: Jet2holidays, easyJet Holidays and TUI have each issued updates telling clients that no additional steps are required when flying to Greece, other than ensuring their passports have at least three months’ validity beyond the stay. Behind the scenes, Greek border police will still record each entry and exit manually to comply with EES data-retention obligations, but without obliging passengers to enrol biometrics. Officials in tourism-dependent Spain, Portugal and Croatia are said to be studying the Greek model amid fears that long queues could deter high-spending non-EU visitors. EU law does allow member states to apply “proportionate facilitation measures” provided security standards are not compromised.
Practical Implications: UK firms running incentive trips or rotational staff assignments to Greece can expect routine arrival processing times of 10–15 minutes, similar to the pre-EES era. Travellers should, however, note that the exemption is Greece-specific; other Schengen countries will still require the full biometric process. Employers are advised to brief travelling staff accordingly and to monitor embassy channels in case the policy is revised during peak season.
