Why I’m racing to get my French citizenship before the EU’s Entry/Exit System launches in October

As a dual-nationality family with a second home in Jura, France, we’ve seen our share of LeShuttle delays. The infamous day in 2019 when extreme heat caused a meltdown, and class war almost broke out in the car park. The queues backed up onto the M20 at half terms. The time we had to jump ship, and go on the ferry.

So it was with some horror that I learned of the EES - the European Entry/Exit System - which will be introduced in October this year. Brexit has already increased travel times due to the need to get passports stamped. The EES will replace that system, and require Brits to have data, including fingerprints and facial scans, recorded before crossing the border to the EU.

What this means in practice is that anyone with a British passport travelling via LeShuttle - as well as Eurostar, airports and ferry terminals such as the Port of Dover - could face delays, especially as the scheme gets underway.

Anyone who’s travelled through the LeShuttle terminal recently will have noticed a lot of building work. This has been to prepare an area where British (and other non-EU) nationals will be diverted to in order to pre-register details at new biometric kiosks.

EU nationals - in my case, my husband Fred, 48, and teenagers Inès, 17, and Vincent, 15 - can pass through registration and passport control as normal. As the only person without a French passport, I will be letting the side down.

The whole family will have to divert to the pre-registration area, and twiddle their thumbs while I get out of the car to provide my biometric details at a kiosk. This will be most time-consuming on my first visit to Europe after the EES comes into force. I’ll have to provide my car registration, passport details, fingerprints and facial