The first EES summer, measured

Whether it applies to you

EES registers travellers who are not EU, EEA or Swiss nationals each time they cross the external Schengen border: fingerprints and a facial image on the first crossing, a faster check afterwards. For a car on these roads that usually means the passports inside it are treated differently. A family driving from Munich to Skopje on German passports is not registered; the same family on North Macedonian or Serbian passports is, at the same booth, in the same car. That is why a queue here is not one queue.

Where EES applies on these roads

EES runs at the external Schengen frontier, which means exactly one side of a crossing is inside it. The list below is derived from which countries are in the Schengen area and from the crossings our feeds publish, on every build — so it cannot quietly go stale, and a border that changes status changes here on the next deploy. The direction matters as much as the crossing: registration happens on the way IN.

The queues right now

Right now, at the crossings above, in the direction EES is processed in. These are the same figures the crossing pages carry, from the same sources, read within the hour — this page just asks the question EES-first instead of crossing-first.

• Aržano – PrisikaBosnia & Herzegovina → Croatia≤ 30min
• Bajakovo – BatrovciSerbia → Croatia30min
• BatinaSerbia → Croatia30min
• Bogovolja – Hadžin PotokBosnia & Herzegovina → Croatia≤ 30min
• Gornji Brgat – IvanicaBosnia & Herzegovina → Croatia≤ 30min
• Dvor – Bosanski NoviBosnia & Herzegovina → Croatia≤ 30min
• ErdutSerbia → Croatia30min
• Gornji Varoš – Gradiška (novi most)Bosnia & Herzegovina → Croatia≤ 30min

What the queues actually did

The EES check happens on the way into the Schengen area. So if this system were setting the pace at these borders, the long queue would sit on the entry side. Across the crossings where one source measures both directions, the tally below shows where the bigger queue sits as of the latest update.

4 crossings heavier leaving·6 heavier entering·18 level

It does not follow that EES costs nothing. Leaving the Schengen area means two controls, not one: the Schengen exit check, then the other country's entry control, a different authority under different rules. The outbound figure contains both. The numbers rule out only the simplest story, that the entry side is uniformly the slower one.

≤ before a figure means the source published a band („up to”), not a measurement. That figure is an upper bound.

Some crossings are missing above. A source publishing the same figure every hour all summer is describing its reporting convention, not the road. Those series are dropped rather than averaged in, because a constant would make the least informative feed the loudest.

The one official prediction we can check

The Hungarian Police say on their own border-information page that crossing times were expected to increase initially. It is a rare thing: a public, checkable prediction from the authority that runs the booths. We cannot hold it against their own data, and it is worth saying why: we began reading their hourly figures on 9 August 2026, four months after EES reached full operation. There is no before, so there can be no before and after. What those hours do show is which side the queue sits on. Across 444 hours to 28 August 2026, 612 of 3,980 car readings entering the Schengen area ran over 15 minutes, against 171 of 3,884 leaving. Over 30 minutes it is 278 against 13. Entering was the heavier side on nineteen of twenty days. Trucks run the other way: 17 of 3,385 entering against 136 of 3,849 leaving. EES registers passengers, not freight.

Questions, answered with today's figures

How long is the wait entering the Schengen area at Horgoš – Röszke?

Across 1,062 hourly readings since 27 July, the car queue entering the Schengen area was usually 30 minutes; in the busiest quarter of hours it was 45 minutes or more. 0 of 1062 measured hours ran over 90 minutes.

How long is the wait leaving the Schengen area at Horgoš – Röszke?

Usually 30 minutes, and 30 minutes or more in the busiest quarter, across 1,062 hourly readings. This direction contains two controls: the Schengen exit check and the entry control of the country on the other side.

How long is the wait entering the Schengen area at Gradina – Kalotina?

Across 1,062 hourly readings since 27 July, the car queue entering the Schengen area was usually 30 minutes; in the busiest quarter of hours it was 30 minutes or more. 0 of 1062 measured hours ran over 90 minutes.

How long is the wait leaving the Schengen area at Gradina – Kalotina?

Usually 30 minutes, and 30 minutes or more in the busiest quarter, across 1,062 hourly readings. This direction contains two controls: the Schengen exit check and the entry control of the country on the other side.

How long is the wait entering the Schengen area at Kelebija – Tompa?

Across 1,062 hourly readings since 27 July, the car queue entering the Schengen area was usually 30 minutes; in the busiest quarter of hours it was 30 minutes or more. 0 of 1062 measured hours ran over 90 minutes.

How long is the wait leaving the Schengen area at Kelebija – Tompa?

Usually 30 minutes, and 30 minutes or more in the busiest quarter, across 1,062 hourly readings. This direction contains two controls: the Schengen exit check and the entry control of the country on the other side.

How long is the wait entering the Schengen area at Đerdap 1?

Across 1,026 hourly readings since 27 July, the car queue entering the Schengen area was usually 10 minutes; in the busiest quarter of hours it was 10 minutes or more. 0 of 1026 measured hours ran over 90 minutes.

How long is the wait leaving the Schengen area at Đerdap 1?

Usually 10 minutes, and 10 minutes or more in the busiest quarter, across 1,026 hourly readings. This direction contains two controls: the Schengen exit check and the entry control of the country on the other side.

The rules themselves

For the rules themselves — who is registered, what is taken, how the 180-day count works — go to the authorities that publish them. They maintain those pages; we do not, and a copy here would be wrong the first time they edit one.

• Hungarian Police — Határinfó, the EU Entry/Exit System
• European Commission — the Entry/Exit System
• European Commission — the Schengen area