Thousands of British passport holders are at risk of being stopped and questioned at European borders due to significant flaws in the new biometric Entry and Exit System (EES). Designed to streamline Border Control and speed up arrivals in the EU, the system has instead caused widespread confusion and delays at popular travel destinations such as Spain and Greece.
A recent incident in Romania underscores the problem: a British woman was detained when returning from Cluj-Napoca after being mistaken for her identical twin sister. Romanian border authorities accused her of remaining illegally within the Schengen Area, based on a missing record of her departure from Amsterdam in April 2026. In reality, it was her twin sister who had traveled at that time.
With approximately 12,000 sets of twins born annually in the UK, this case reveals a potentially widespread issue. Niovi Vavoula, Chair in Cyber Policy at the University of Luxembourg, explained the situation as a case of “anchoring bias,” where border officials rely heavily on facial recognition data without verifying passport details or considering the system’s early-stage challenges.
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A spokesperson for the European Commission acknowledged that data management falls under individual member states’ responsibilities, but emphasized that biometric data entry is intended to provide separate identification for each traveler. They advised travelers concerned about inaccurate records to request corrections from the relevant national authorities.
As the EES continues to roll out, passengers—especially those with identical siblings—are urged to be vigilant and prepared for additional scrutiny to avoid disruptions caused by this emerging biometric oversight.