Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Fact check: What countries require facial recognition scans for travelers?
Executive summary
Many countries now require or routinely use facial-recognition biometrics for travelers: the European Union will deploy an automated Entry/Exit biometric system across 29 member states beginning October 12, 2025, while the United States already uses facial comparison systems at hundreds of airport locations and other countries have phased out passport stamps in favor of biometrics. Facial-recognition checks are becoming standard at international points of entry, though implementation, scope, and legal frameworks vary by jurisdiction and by whether biometrics are mandatory or optional [1] [2] [3].
1. The EU’s big shift — passport stamps vanish, cameras arrive
The European Union has committed to replacing physical passport stamping with an automated biometric Entry/Exit System across 29 Schengen-area and associated countries starting on October 12, 2025. That system will use facial images and fingerprints to register non-EU travelers’ entries and exits, centralizing digital records and altering border processing from visual document checks to biometric comparisons. The change is framed as modernization and improved migration management, but it also represents a structural shift in how identity at European borders will be recorded and stored [1] [2].
2. United States: widespread deployment, function and locations
The United States already deploys facial-recognition technology broadly across arrival and departure processes, with biometric facial comparison used at 238 airports and all 14 CBP Preclearance sites, and at 57 international departure locations. These deployments are operational and actively used to process travelers entering and exiting the country, integrating biometric matching with traveler records for identity verification and law enforcement checks. The U.S. program differs from the EU rollout in being more decentralized across many airport locations rather than a single new continental system [3].
3. Countries that have phased out stamps: what that change actually means
The United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Argentina have already moved away from physical passport stamping, adopting biometric or digital entry systems that rely on facial recognition and electronic logs to track movement. Removing stamps does not always imply mandatory facial-scanning for every traveler; it signals reliance on digital processing and biometric verification in many flows, especially for non-citizen arrivals and visa-controlled movements. Each country’s legal rules, privacy protections, and coverage levels differ, so “no stamp” can mean varying practical consequences for travelers [2].
4. Emerging national programs: Vietnam and others pushing domestic biometrics
Vietnam is accelerating its VNeID platform rollout to expand biometric and digital identification services, planning to require facial scans and fingerprints for domestic travelers by December 2025. This initiative illustrates a trend where biometric identification expands beyond international border control into domestic travel and citizen services, raising governance questions about consent, data sharing between agencies, and safeguards in national digital ID architectures. Vietnam’s timetable shows rapid domestic uptake can follow international border precedents [4].
5. Airports worldwide: availability versus legal mandate
Many countries and airports operate biometric-capable systems—Canada’s major international airports and Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International are examples—yet availability does not equal a universal legal requirement. In several places biometric gates are offered as an expedited option or for particular traveler categories, while in others, like parts of the U.S. and the forthcoming EU system, biometric checks are applied broadly to most international arrivals and many departures. Travelers should distinguish between optional e-gates and mandatory biometric processing [3] [1].
6. Data governance, privacy and differing public-policy rationales
Authorities present biometrics as a tool for security, immigration control, and travel facilitation, arguing improved accuracy and efficiency. Privacy advocates and civil-society groups emphasize risks from centralized biometric databases, mission creep, and unequal accuracy across demographic groups, pointing out that policy trade-offs hinge on legal safeguards, retention limits, access controls, and independent oversight. The reported rollouts do not uniformly describe those protections, so the balance of security and privacy varies across jurisdictions [2] [1].
7. What travelers should take away and unresolved questions
Travelers should expect that many international arrivals and departures will now involve facial-recognition checks, especially in the EU after October 12, 2025, and at numerous U.S. airports. Key unresolved questions include exact legal mandates for citizens versus foreigners, data retention and sharing rules, error rates and redress mechanisms, and how optional e-gates will coexist with mandatory biometric processing, and those answers differ by country and sometimes by airport. Preparing for biometrics—ensuring compliant travel documents and awareness of local rules—remains practical advice [2] [3] [4].