The European Union has changed the rules for crossing the border: what Ukrainians should know

The European Union is introducing a new border control system for third-country nationals, including Ukrainians. It will replace the usual stamps in passports with digital entry and exit records and will include the recording of biometric data.

This was reported by the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

The Entry/Exit System (EES), designed to automatically register the entry and exit of citizens of countries outside the EU or the Schengen area, will come into force in the EU on 12 October 2025. The new rules will not apply to EU citizens, residents of member states or persons with long-stay visas.

Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Service of Ukraine, explained that the new system is designed to strengthen security at the EU’s external borders.

“The European Union wants to actually modernize its database in order to connect different countries, strengthen security, and enable border guards of different countries to control the entry and exit of third-country citizens, including Ukrainians,” he said.

The EES system will gradually become operational at all borders of the European Union countries by 2026. It will replace traditional passport stamps with digital records and capture of travelers’ biometric data – facial photos and fingerprints.

As noted on the official EES website , the system will collect data from the passport, the date and place of each crossing, biometric data, and previous cases of entry refusals.

During the first crossing after the implementation of the EES, travelers will undergo full registration – they will be photographed and fingerprinted, which will be entered into a digital file.

Full re-registration will only be required after three years or if the passport is replaced. The innovation aims to increase security, simplify control, and reduce data processing time when crossing the border.

By the way, between August 28 and September 19, 2025, border guards conducted about 53 thousand checks of male Ukrainian citizens aged 18 to 22 on the Ukrainian-Polish border. Of these , almost 40 thousand cases were on entry into Poland, and more than 13 thousand on exit from its territory.

We would like to remind you that after the Ukrainian government allowed men aged 18–22 to travel abroad on August 28, there has been a noticeable increase in the flow of young citizens towards European countries. This is especially noticeable in the Polish direction, where the number of departures increased more than 10 times in the first week after the changes came into force.

As reported, after the government allowed men aged 18 to 22 to temporarily cross the state border in late August, Ukraine has seen an active movement of young people from a number of regions . The dynamics are particularly noticeable in the western part of the country.

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