eu-LISA marks milestone year as biometric service goes live
Sep 11, 2026
Category: Border and Security EES ETIAS EU News
The eu-LISA Annual Activity Report 2025 records a year in which the European Union’s border technology moved from development into daily use, with the Entry/Exit System (EES) starting operations and the bloc’s first interoperability component switched on.
The report covers eu-LISA’s 2025 work programme and the objectives set out in its Single Programming Document 2025–2027.
Alongside the border milestones, eu-LISA reported a 100% budget implementation rate and a 98% overall implementation rate for audit recommendations.
Five months, three switch-ons
The shared Biometric Matching Service (sBMS) entered operation for the Visa Information System (VIS) on 19–20 May 2025. It was the first component defined in the Interoperability Regulations.
All 45 million historical biometric records were migrated from the old VIS matching system. Maintenance on that system ended on 20 June 2025.
The report described sBMS as one of the world’s largest biometric systems. It stores biometric templates generated from data held in the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Common Identity Repository.
EES began its progressive entry into operation on 12 October 2025, with member states connecting national border infrastructures to the central system in stages.
VIS was linked to sBMS in May and to EES in October. That connection allows consulates to check EES before issuing a Schengen visa and enables border officers to retrieve visa data during crossings.
Under the rollout sequence, each country had to register crossings at at least one border point from the start. Biometric functions were required at all deployed points by day 60, and at half of each state’s crossing points by day 90.
Full operation at every external crossing point of the 29 participating countries followed from 10 April 2026.
Stamps out, refusals in
EES central system availability reached 98.13% in 2025, with three critical incidents. A technical limitation meant response times could not be measured during the year.
The system logged 8,180 refused entries of third-country nationals. Of those, 31% involved a purpose and conditions of stay that were not justified, and 25% involved stays longer than three months within a six-month period.
A further 283 authorisations for stay were revoked and 479 were extended.
The EES replaces manual passport stamping, records refusals and tracks authorised stays, supporting enforcement of the 90/180-day rule.
eu-LISA exceeded its planned 2025 budget for EES, though it reported overall implementation costs in line with the legislative financial statement. Delivery ran late relative to the regulatory deadline but aligned with the interoperability roadmap agreed in March 2025.
Uptime holds near targets
Across the rest of the estate, availability stayed close to service-level targets: SIS at 99.92%, VIS at 99.78%, Eurodac at 99.97% and e-CODEX at 99.90%. The sBMS recorded 100% availability with no critical incidents.
VIS held 49.7 million stored visa applications at the end of 2025, up 8.7% year-on-year. That includes 45.7 million fingerprint sets and 49.6 million facial images.
The system handled 278 million operations in total, a 7.3% increase. Biometric searches grew 8.3% to 8 million, while alphanumeric searches fell 9.4% to 29 million.
Justice deliveries slip
Two planned deliveries missed their dates. The Joint Investigation Teams collaboration platform did not enter operation in December 2025 as scheduled, and the Management Board recorded its regret.
Technical readiness for the European Criminal Records Information System on third-country nationals (ECRIS-TCN) was not achieved by the end of the year, although compliance testing with member states began. The Board noted the delays with concern and pressed for readiness in 2026.
A major upgrade to the ECRIS reference implementation was completed in November 2025, opening the way to integration with ECRIS-TCN and the start of the data load.
Next wave queues up
For the new Eurodac, eu-LISA delivered central system releases, a web user interface, and technical specifications to member states ahead of entry into operation on 12 June 2026. The report called that date a precondition for implementing the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum.
On the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), the agency finished the central system design and gave member states access to all core functionalities from May 2025.
Compliance testing began, an updated system simulator arrived in June 2025, and work started on a chatbot and a support tool for third-country nationals. Availability and response indicators for ETIAS will only exist after entry into operation in 2026.
The static part of the joint EES and ETIAS website, Travel to Europe, went live in July 2025, developed by Frontex and the European Commission, providing information in 27 languages for EES and 30 for ETIAS.
In December 2025, eu-LISA finished testing the web service application and released the carrier onboarding and support tool to passenger carriers.
EES bill forces amendment
The agency managed €311 million in commitment appropriations and €338.1 million in payment appropriations, executing 100% of both.
That result needed a mid-year fix. The Management Board approved a single €47 million amendment in additional payment appropriations, of which €41 million went to the EES rollout, including software licences and hardware maintenance, and €6 million to a change in the SIS project timeline.
Some 468 payments were delayed, mainly because payment appropriations ran out in October 2025 before the November amendment. Of those, 177 incurred late interest totalling €283,084.
Procurement volume rose 41% year on year, with 1,500 contracts and 593 service requests signed.
Auditors sign off clean
The European Court of Auditors issued unqualified opinions on the reliability of eu-LISA’s 2024 accounts and on the legality and regularity of revenue and payments.
Auditors made three observations on transactions and one on management and control systems. None called those opinions into question.
The 2025 internal control assessment found the system present, functioning and effective, with improvements still needed. The Authorising Officer issued no reservations for 2025.
The Commission’s five-yearly external evaluation, adopted in January 2026, produced 11 recommendations covering governance, workforce planning and technology strategy, with delivery dates running to Q1 2027.
Border ahead, justice behind
The year split cleanly in two: external-border systems went live, while justice-domain systems did not.
Tillmann Keber became executive director on 1 October 2025, days before the EES rollout. Marili Männik had served as interim head since August 2024.
Staffing remains tight, with occupancy at 88.2% excluding job offers. The Management Board has called for improvement while highlighting pressure on staff managing complex projects.
The interoperability roadmap now extends beyond the systems delivered in 2025. Council endorsements in December 2025 and March 2026 push full operationalisation to 2028, with the revised VIS later.
Eurodac readiness by 12 June 2026, ECRIS-TCN technical readiness, the Joint Investigation Teams platform and ETIAS remain outstanding.