Flawed EU border checks threaten author Jojo Moyes with two-year travel ban in EES error that could affect thousands of UK travellers

The novelist was told by border guards that she faces a two-year ban and €10,000 fine if she attempts to re-enter Europe, as Which? steps in to help

On her way home from a five-day trip to France in October, Me Before You author Jojo Moyes was stopped by a border control guard at Marseille airport and told she’d overstayed in Europe. 

This came as a surprise to Jojo, who’d only spent 23 days in Europe within the past six months. British passport holders are entitled to spend 80 in every 190 days in European Schengen zone countries like France, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

It was only after a discussion at Marseille airport border control that Jojo realised the issue. The system showed that on an earlier trip to Portugal in May, her exit from the country had not been correctly logged. 

‘The clock had been ticking ever since. Under Brexit rules, I was now an overstayer,’ she explains. ‘The border control senior officer at Marseille warned me that I should not attempt to re-enter Europe until it is sorted out, or face a €10,000 fine and a two-year ban.’

Dozens of Which? readers have contacted us with similar stories. One traveller told us her elderly parents were ‘utterly terrified’ and have decided not to travel to Europe again, after their exits via Bilbao airport weren’t recorded, leaving their days to ‘tick down’ after their exit. 

Another told us that they had been temporarily detained for two hours on the Serbian/Romanian border and asked to explain missing entry data from the EES system, because their journey through the Channel Tunnel from the UK to Calais hadn’t been logged in the EES system at Folkestone.

And an immigration officer in Amsterdam Schiphol told one traveller that his rejection by the eGates was due to the fact he had ‘multiple EES accounts’ due to multiple entries into Schengen countries this year, explaining that the eGates ‘don’t know which account to query, so just reject the passport.’

And an immigration officer in Amsterdam Schiphol told one traveller that his rejection by the eGates was due to the fact he had ‘multiple EES accounts’ due to multiple entries into Schengen countries this year, explaining that the eGates ‘don’t know which account to query, so just reject the passport.’

Did EES chaos lead to Jojo’s problem?

Jojo didn’t have passport stamps to prove her exit from Portugal to the French border guards, because stamping has mostly been replaced by Europe’s new electronic, biometric border checks, called the Entry-Exit System (EES). 

It was officially rolled out on 10 April and resulted in long queues and disruption at many airports this summer, with some travellers missing flights due to long wait times.

This disruption led to the EU allowing airports to suspend use of the EES system if it led to excessive queues.  Instead, they could use an older system to register entries and exits. If these systems do not speak with one another, it could lead to outdated or incomplete data on travellers’ records. States were also allowed to retroactively upload passport data into the EES system, while temporarily defaulting to passport stamping. 

Jojo recalls long queues at Lisbon airport when she flew back in May, which may have meant EES checks were suspended when she exited Portugal. 

Which? has reached out to the European Commission about JoJo’s case and to ask if EES suspensions could be leading to incomplete entry-exit data, but it has not yet responded.

Correcting EES errors: costly, time-consuming and confusing

Jojo owns a home in France, is due to travel back into Europe this month, and has further travel plans next year which could be derailed if she is unable to have her data corrected in the EES system. 

The European Commission recommends that those with errors in their EES data get in touch with the Data Controller for the country of their most recent visit, and provides a list of email addresses for each on its Data Protection page. But the reality of correcting Jojo’s data has proven much more complicated. 

‘In the last two weeks I have tried every possible avenue, and feel like I’ve made very little progress at all. I have now engaged an immigration lawyer - one of the few I’ve contacted who knows about this situation - but not everyone is lucky enough to be able to afford this remedy.’

Which? contacted Portugal’s Data controller on Jojo’s behalf. It told us that Jojo must provide a lawyer-certified copy of her passport, along with proof of her exit from Portugal such as airline boarding cards, in order to amend her data. That’s despite us providing an email from the Portuguese Police confirming the exact date, time and location of exit from the country in May.

Jojo has also reached out to the French border control authorities to confirm that her exit from Marseille airport was correctly logged, but weeks later has not heard back. 

‘I have no idea how much time they think I have spent in Europe, and no idea whether I am safe to travel,’ says Jojo.

Which? has repeatedly reached out to the Commission for comment, but at the time of publishing it has not responded.

How to check your EES status

If you’re a British traveller without a dual passport, and have travelled to Europe since April, you should check your status on the EU’s online tool to ensure your exits from EU countries were recorded correctly.

Read more: How to check if the EU thinks you’ve overstayed

Some travellers have checked their status on the EU’s Check How Long You Can Stay tool, and it returned ‘incomplete data’ or incorrect results that they said don’t match the reality of their movements into and out of Europe.

Those who are flagged as overstayers risk being stopped from entering most EU countries by border control, or facing bans from certain states. So if you spot an error in your data, you should contact the Data Controller for the country you’ve visited on the EU Data Protection web page. 

You should include a scan of your passport, proof of your exit (such as a boarding pass), and a request to have your data corrected. The Data Controller may ask for more evidence or information before correcting your EES data.

Have you been affected by EES issues? Send your story to travelexperts@which.co.uk