Fact check: What exemptions exist for diplomats, children, or people with valid medical reasons from EU biometric collection in 2025?

1. Who clearly avoids giving fingerprints — A simple rule for children that matters at the border

Multiple accounts concur that children under 12 are not required to provide fingerprints to the EES, though they must still be registered and photographed for entry records. This is the most consistent exemption in the reporting: the EES collects biometrics from non‑EU travellers but treats younger children differently to reflect practicality and child protection concerns, so photographic capture but not fingerprint capture applies to this age group ^{[1] [2]}. The sources emphasize that children still pass through the registration process and have images stored; the exemption is narrowly limited to fingerprinting rather than a wholesale exclusion from the EES, which affects how family travel and airport processing are handled and preserves identity linking without invasive fingerprinting of minors ^[2].

2. Diplomats and official visitors — A patchwork of special allowances, not a blanket amnesty

Reporting identifies exemptions for heads of state, government leaders, sovereigns, senior royals on official visits, and their immediate delegations, indicating that diplomatic protocol frequently yields biometric exceptions at borders. However, the descriptions are not uniform about broader diplomatic categories such as career diplomats or holders of diplomatic passports; one source explicitly lists “certain diplomatic and official travelers” as exempt while others only mention top officials and accompanying delegations ^{[3] [4]}. That uneven wording suggests national authorities and consular channels will play a key role in how broadly diplomatic exceptions are implemented, and travelers with diplomatic claims should expect pre‑clearance or confirmation rather than automatic, universal carve‑outs at every external border point ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Medical impossibility — Recognised but operationally undefined

Several reports state that people who cannot provide fingerprints for medical reasons are exempted from that specific biometric requirement, classed as “physical impossibility.” The EES framework allows for this accommodation, but the sources do not provide consistent operational detail about who decides the impossibility, what medical documentation suffices, or how exceptions are logged and audited at the border ^{[4] [1]}. The lack of procedural clarity creates potential variability: border officers may apply national rules differently, and travellers with chronic conditions or temporary injuries should secure medical documentation and, where possible, liaison with their carrier or the destination’s consular services in advance to avoid delays ^[4].

4. Who is out of the EES entirely — Citizens and long‑term residents

The system explicitly excludes EU citizens, their family members who have residence rights, holders of long‑stay national visas, and residents with long‑term permits from EES processing; their border controls operate under different national registers and residence verification mechanisms ^[3]. This exclusion means biometric collection under EES targets non‑EU short‑stay travellers; long‑term migrants and residents are administered outside the EES footprint, which mitigates duplication but also raises questions about data consistency across national systems and how identity checks intersect with the EES at the point of entry ^[3].

5. Where reporting diverges — Retention times, scope and national discretion

Sources agree on the broad exemptions but diverge on data retention durations and the exact scope of diplomatic exemptions: some reports specify retention of EES data for three years for compliant short‑stay travellers and five years for overstayers, while others omit or generalize this point ^[2]. The variation in phrasing about diplomatic categories and the limited procedural detail about medical exemptions indicates both legal consensus on categories and operational discretion at member‑state level, meaning travellers should treat published exemptions as subject to administrative implementation rather than immutable guarantees ^{[2] [5]}.

6. Practical takeaways — Prepare documentation and expect local variation at borders

Given the confirmed exemptions—children under 12, top officials and certain delegations, and persons with medical impossibility—travellers should still carry supporting documents (birth certificates, diplomatic notes, medical certificates) and contact carriers or missions before travel because national border authorities apply rules in the field and may request verification ^{[1] [4]}. The EES’s architecture separates short‑stay biometric processing from resident registers, but the operational gaps in published guidance mean that proactive confirmation from official channels is the most reliable way to secure an exemption in practice ^{[3] [5]}.