As a British citizen, the introduction of the EES means I am more keen than ever to obtain French citizenship.
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As a dual nationality family with a holiday home in the French Jura, we too have experienced the LeShuttle delay. An infamous day in 2019 when the heatwave caused a meltdown and class warfare almost broke out in the parking lot. The procession in half a period he retreated to the M20. The amount of time you have to jump ship and catch a ferry.
So when I learned about the EES (European Immigration System), which will be introduced in October of this year, I felt a little scared. Brexit has already increased travel times as passports need to be stamped. The EES will replace that system, requiring Britons to record data such as fingerprints and facial scans before crossing the border into the EU.
What does this change mean for Brits traveling to France?
What this means in practice is that anyone traveling via Le Shuttle with a British passport will face delays, especially as plans progress, if they use Eurostar, the airport or ferry terminals such as the Port of Dover. That means it's possible.
If you've been to the LeShuttle terminal recently, you'll have noticed a lot of construction work going on. This is to prepare an area where UK (and other non-EU) nationals will be directed to pre-register their details at a new biometric kiosk.
EU nationals (in my case, my husband Fred, 48, and teenagers Ines, 17, and Vincent, 15) can go through registration and passport control as usual. As the only person who doesn't have a French passport, I'll keep that a secret.
The whole family has to head to the pre-registration area and twiddle their thumbs while I get out of the car to provide my biometric details at a kiosk. This takes the longest on my first visit to Europe after the EES comes into force. Car registration, passport details, fingerprints, face scan and the data is valid for three years.
For subsequent trips, only one biometric information will be checked, but you will need to do this at the pre-registration area at both the Folkestone and Calais terminals.
How is LeShuttle preparing for change?
To be fair to LeShuttle, the motor train service has invested more than £67 million (€78 million) to plan ahead to deal with delays. This investment comes as no surprise as Brits make up over 70% of his customers. A total of 224 kiosks have been installed at the Folkestone and Calais terminals and are being tested by volunteers.
It is said to be able to handle more than 500 vehicles per hour, which is based on the average number of passengers per vehicle, with an increase in travel time of only 5 to 7 minutes. During peak hours, up to four trains will run, with 120 cars per train.
LeShuttle's COO said: “Our company has been working on this initiative for over two years and we are fortunate that we do not have severe space restrictions like other international ports and terminals, so the impact on our customers will be minimal.” I am confident that.” Deborah Melends.
Full marks to them for anticipating change. But the new rules will still mean I'll be stuck in the doghouse with the teens — especially since there are signs that not everyone is as ready as LeChattle. The EU has confirmed that the introduction of the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), which will work in conjunction with the EES, has been postponed to May 2025.
Meanwhile, Eurostar, which has valuable space in both London and Paris, is investing around 10 million euros.
“We have been actively working on forecasting to accurately assess the needs of all our stations,” a spokesperson told Euronews Travel. “As a result, we will be installing approximately 65 pre-check-in kiosks in the terminals at St Pancras Station in London and Gare du Nord.
“We are also significantly increasing our border control capabilities by adding manual booths and electronic gates at both stations.”
Why the EES makes it harder to break the 90-day rule
But you can't escape it. Applying for French citizenship will make travel easier for me and my family. We've been married for over four years, so we're entitled to that.
If you can skip pre-registration and just queue up with your EU passport at the airport or terminal, there will be fewer delays when traveling to and from Brexit islands. Additionally, as a full French citizen, I am not subject to the 90-day rule (a non-EU national can only stay within the Schengen area for a maximum of 90 days out of her 180 days).
It's surprisingly easy for freelance travel writers and second home owners like me to violate this rule. The EES is designed to record entry and exit dates, making it easy to see if travelers have overstayed their welcome period. Currently, this is manually monitored by border guards who check the date of stamps on passports.
Parlez-vous Français: How easy is it to obtain French citizenship?
I realize that I am one of the lucky people who can apply for EU citizenship, but there are hurdles to overcome first.
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When I saw the application process, my heart sank. My friends told me that the level of French required to pass the language speaking test was quite low. However, recently the number has increased to “B1”, which is an intermediate “independent speaker”.
Even though my husband and I have been together for over 20 years, my accent is bad and I'm worried that my French will disappoint me, so I add 30 minutes of French study to my daily routine.
She also needs to find her parents' birth certificate, which dates back to 1931 and is hidden somewhere in her sister's house. Once they are found, my husband will need to get the libretto de famille (family book) updated with the details of our marriage. Only then can we fight the French consulate.
But with the threat of furious teenagers in the back of the car, the pressure is certainly on to get things under control, ideally by October. Otherwise, in the future I may be kicked out of my private car and forced to travel to the EU alone.
