{"id":62009,"date":"2026-07-28T12:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/62009\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:13:07","slug":"british-expats-in-spain-are-confused-about-how-the-ees-system-applies-to-them-and-whether-they-can-use-e-gates-with-their-tie-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/62009\/","title":{"rendered":"British expats in Spain are confused about how the EES System applies to them and whether they can use e-gates with their TIE card"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reports of huge queues in European airports are worrying British travellers this summer, and foreign residents living in Spain<\/a> often don\u2019t know whether they should stand in these queues or if they can bypass the delays if they have a TIE card<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A survey conducted by travel insurance providers Staysure Expat in June reveals that 33% of respondents said they did not feel enough information has been provided to travellers about EES<\/a> and 35% wanted more clarity on whether it applies to them as expats with TIE cards.<\/p>\n

Further confusion has been seen around the use of e-gates for passport checks. 42% of respondents thought they could use e-gates if they have a Spanish residency card TIE and 40% didn\u2019t think they could. Mistakenly using the e-gates could falsely identify you as having overstayed the short-stay limit and cause problems with future travel, so getting it right is key.<\/p>\n

Caroline Lips, Head of Marketing for Staysure Expat is setting the record straight. \u201cOur survey showed a lot of confusion on what expats in Spain should do when faced with the EES System, and whether they could use the e-gates for passports or not. It\u2019s important to do the right thing, to avoid potentially being shown to have overstayed the 90\u2013180-day rule for non-EU citizens.<\/p>\n

“The good news is that foreign residents in Spain with a TIE card, definitely do not have to use the EES system and so they can skip the queues. The European Union<\/a>\u2019s official Travel Europe portal for the Entry\/Exit System clearly states that the EES does not apply to \u201cholders of residence permits and long-stay visas\u201d and that is anyone with a TIE. The UK\u2019s FCDO confirms this by saying \u201cIf you are long-term resident in a Schengen country, you are exempt from EES in all Schengen countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holders of a TIE card, even with a third-country passport, can use the residents\u2019 lane, so head to the queue marked for EU \/ EEA \/ Swiss citizens and Residents \u2013 do not simply join the end of the EES line. Hold your passport and your TIE card in your hand when going to that line, so that officers know you\u2019re entitled to use it.<\/p>\n

“Our survey also showed a real split when it came to knowledge about whether you should use the e-gates at passport control<\/a> or not. 42% thought they could, 40% thought they couldn\u2019t. The actual case is that you shouldn\u2019t use the e-gates, because they scan your passport only, not your residence card, and this could log you as a short stay visitor and lead to automated \u201coverstayer\u201d alerts and potential complications the next time you travel.<\/p>\n

“Go to the manned desks and present your passport and your TIE together. The officer will visually verify your residency, manually process your entry without logging your fingerprints or photo into the short-stay database, and wave you through. The queues for the manned passport control desks seem to be moving significantly faster than the EES lanes, so that\u2019s a real benefit for expats with TIE cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The survey also revealed that 33% wanted clear airport signage to reduce confusion and 28% would value a simple step-by-step guide to help them to understand systems like the EES better. Staysure Expat have written a blog answering the most frequently asked questions about the EES in response to these findings and will be continuing to release useful travel advice for expats living in Spain, France<\/a> and Portugal on their social media channels @staysureexpat on Instagram and @staysure.expat on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reports of huge queues in European airports are worrying British travellers this summer, and foreign residents living in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1253,596,1254,1998,1255,6944,8625,6942,333,556,598,599,600,1393,2875,17,13983,357],"class_list":["post-62009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-90-day-rule","tag-airport","tag-balearics","tag-border-control","tag-british-expats","tag-british-passports","tag-ees","tag-eu-entry-exit-system","tag-european-union","tag-france","tag-holiday","tag-majorca","tag-mallorca","tag-palma-airport","tag-passport-control","tag-spain","tag-tie-card","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}