This November, a new control system will come into force in Spain for non-EU citizens who wish to enter a country in the Schengen area of the European Union. This mechanism consists of an automatic computerised record of the arrivals and departures of passengers from non-EU countries, as well as from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, who stay in Europe for a short period of time . This is explained by the Union on its official website .
The aim of this initiative is none other than to "modernise" the management of the external borders of the European Union and " replace the stamping of passports ", which is causing so many headaches in Lanzarote.
This measure comes up against the border situation at Lanzarote Airport, where a National Police officer reported to a court in Arrecife that the Border Post had allegedly not stamped the passports of travellers from third countries for three years due to a lack of staff, leaving a security gap and violating EU regulations.
From the end of June this year, as required by law since 2018 and following the complaint, the passports of British citizens arriving in Lanzarote began to be stamped. The current situation, due to the lack of police officers, has caused long queues at border controls , as some travellers have made known to La Voz . This situation is not new and already in 2011, problems with passenger control at the airfield were reported, where sometimes the control had to be opened to non-EU citizens due to the lack of National Police officers.
This reality has now reached the British tabloids , which are warning of a situation of "chaos" at the César Manrique airport and of the loss of flights by some passengers for this reason. However, according to La Voz , the orders are to continue implementing the stamping of passports until the new Entry/Exit System comes into force on November 10 .
To carry out this registration, as is already the case for entering the United Kingdom, "electronic records and biometric data" will be used, such as facial recognition or the use of fingerprints . Thus, it seeks to facilitate the identification of "people who stay longer than permitted" in a territory and provide "reliable data on entries, exits and refusals."
According to Juan Carlos Fuentes, representative of the police union Equal Salary Now, eight to ten officers with Borders training are still on staff at Lanzarote Airport, while the rest of the vacancies are filled by other officers who are not specialised in the area. According to his testimony, in recent weeks the General Directorate of the National Police has brought out extraordinary services with 30 more officers each week to make up for these shortages. To this must be added the police officers from the Brigade for Response to Illegal Immigration who have moved from Madrid.
Despite efforts to cover the passport stamping, this agent warns that with "the introduction of the Entry/Exit System in two months, the waiting time could double to two hours , because you have to register with fingerprints and photographs upon entering the island." He also warns that the Airport "is trying to comply with the implementation of the EES but the exits are not yet controlled."
