(Not as boring as it sounds.)
The summer season hasn’t even started properly yet, and already the debates and confusion have begun. Not necessarily at airports, but at the kafeneion tables, where soon, the topic of the month will be sunbed prices. Before that, though, there has been great confusion, causing great distress to some of our more easily bewildered visitors and commentators.
‘I read that, yes, you do have to wait for two hours to get your fingerprints taken.’
Not right now, you don’t.
‘But you do! Maureen said she went through Stiffado Airport last week, and she had to give impressions of the soles of her feet in clay before they stamped her passport.’
‘Do you have to have your passport stamped?’
Yes.
‘Why?’
(Attempts to explain, fails, and says) ‘Because you’re leaving the UK and entering Europe,’ which is true/not true, it’s to do with the Shenanigan’s Agreement, but that’s one layer of potential confusion too many for the conversation.
‘No, you are wrong. I read all about it in the Express. Why do they want to take our fingerprints? It’s an Orwellian state. There’s a sinister conspiracy at work…’
Hold onto your kleftiko, love. Here, after this random photo, is the deal:
Whether Aunt Maureen got held up in a queue for hours, strip-searched and sculpted in marble makes no never mind. As of April 10th, Greece has exempted British passport holders from the EES system. In words that even the weariest of Tui Tourists should understand:
Carry on as normal.
Brits don’t currently have to do the biometric registration on entry. Forget all the fuss, and what the Daily Mail chiselled on tablets as gospel and how it wasn’t Brexit’s fault, and forget what Auntie Maureen tells you. This is one rare occasion when you can believe the British government.
If or when it will change is currently anyone’s guess, and why the reason for the confusion?
Well, partly because people don’t listen to truth anymore and make up their own disaster situations to cover the most minor of life’s changes, but also, because the system wasn’t ready. I’m guessing there, because, frankly, the subject is already too ‘done’ for words, but let’s think about it briefly:
Every non-registered visitor from non-Shenanigans countries who arrives has to go through a process that is to take 90 seconds at most. Obvs, it can take longer, because some bewildered folk only remember to look for the necessary when they are at the checkout and not in the queue, but in this case, everyone should have their fingertips to hand. However, even if it only took a minute per person, that’s potentially over 200 minutes per plane (over three hours). Imagine that in the height of summer? Well, there was no need to imagine it over the Easter break, which is where, I think, ‘they’ suddenly realised it was too cumbersome a process.
Anyway, stop beating your gums about it, because it’s currently off the agenda, and just show your passport. Of course, a European one will get you through the Euro queue no questions asked, and if you’ve got a Greek residency card, even with a UK passport, you can often slip through the Euro queue, especially if you go with Neil, who has an Irish passport. (Neil is available for travel Monday to Thursdays by advanced booking only. To avoid disappointment, use your own European passport holder.)
The bottom line: Expect the usual arrival/border control checks, you know, like last year. How long this takes is, as always, dependent on how many people have just arrived, and who in officialdom has had their morning coffee.
As for the ETIAS, that’s another thing that’s been spreading confusion like a Trump ramble.
‘Are they two different things?’ Yes.
‘Why are they doing this?’ Because…
‘The government want all our information, well, I am not giving it to them! They will know where I am…’ Squark, flap, lay an egg.
Hate to bring you down, love, but if you’ve got a mobile phone, you’re already in ‘Their’ system. However, why you think ‘They’ are watching your every move and ignoring the other 8.3 billion people in the world is something to discuss at your next healing circle.
Okay, here’s the deal on this one:
The ETIAS requirement is anticipated to start in the last quarter of 2026.
What is it? It’s a travel authorisation such as already exists for loads of countries around the world. (We had to have one to enter Canada in 2020; it’s linked magically to your passport, so we didn’t have to do anything on arrival except smile and find the legal weed shops.)
If in doubt, look at ETIAS.com
So, no, right now, everything is as it was. Carry on up the Acropolis as much as you want, or as much as you can, seeing as how planes will soon have to be pedal-powered. Disclaimer: If any of the above is incorrect, tell someone who gives a kolokithaki.
