A POLICIA Nacional border guard admitted to the Olive Press they were very much ‘in a trial stage’ at Malaga airport with their Entry/Exit System (EES) digital passport machines this week.
It comes as some British travelers forced into the new system found their chip and pin documents working while others didn’t.
To complicate matters further, border guards insisted that any UK passport holders WITH Spanish residency couldn’t use EES machines at all.
READ MORE: EXPLAINER: Which queue should British residents with a TIE card join to enter Spain now that the EES is here?
British travellers to Spain will now face a new process for entering the country after the EES began this month
“You’ll need to continue with the queue,” a policeman told the Olive Press today at Malaga airports’ B Terminal. “It won’t work if you live in Spain and have a TIE.”
He added: “It’s your fault for Brexit.”
Perplexingly, it came after one of his colleagues had told this newspaper that we ‘could use’ the scanning machine to continue to the boarding gate.
“But that’s only till 1pm,” she said. “We are only trialing it for three-hour periods at a time.”
And when cross-checked at the border kiosk, none of three policemen could explain why our resident journalist’s UK passport wouldn’t work.
READ MORE: Here are the start dates for the EES border system at key Spanish airports popular with British tourists – travellers to Malaga beware
Anne, 67, from Glasgow and her husband had varying experiences with the new EES kiosks
Even odder was the need for British travelers to register at an earlier machine in a bank of 12 up against one wall of the terminal.
And once they had checked in with a face scan they needed to go to the second electronic gate.
“It was the exact same process at the second machine…But while my passport worked, my husband’s didn’t,” explained Anne, 67, from Glasgow, in Scotland.
“And the strange thing is he has a new black one while mine is the older burgundy one.”
READ MORE: EXPLAINER: Here’s how the new EES border system will work for Brits entering Spain and other EU countries from next month
Malaga Airport
She continued: “Even stranger was that both worked fine in Mallorca last week and also in Faro, in Portugal.”
It comes after EES border control machines have sat dormant at Malaga airport for over a year.
It has meant that long queues – sometimes taking 30 minutes – have built up often all the way to Duty Free.
Confusion has reigned at Malaga airport since the EES came into effect on October 20.
British residents in Spain have been especially affected, with many expats reporting being unsure whether to join the EU lane – as legal residents of Spain – or the non-EU queue, which is now controlled by the biometric kiosks.
The Olive Press asked Spain’s Interior Ministry to clarify the rule.
READ MORE: Spain to spend €13bn on mega airport upgrades – as Ryanair slams ‘rip-off’ fees
Officials told us that British passport holders with a TIE residency card must use the queue for the EES system, meaning they should join the non-EU or ‘third-country nationals’ queue when arriving in or leaving Spain.
However, the ministry insisted that, with a valid Spanish residence card (TIE), they will not be treated as tourists and won’t be subject to the 90-day stay limit that applies to non-residents.
In practice, this should mean travellers should present both their passport and TIE when passing through border control as normal – hitches and glitches notwithstanding.
The Interior Ministry’s clarification comes as Spain gradually introduces the EES at its major airports, starting with Madrid first and then followed by Malaga.
Alicante and Barcelona followed on October 27.
Click here to read more Malaga News from The Olive Press.
