Manual passport stamping ended across the EU on 10 April 2026, and Václav Havel Airport Prague, like every other Schengen-area airport, now runs the Entry/Exit System (EES) in its place. Here is what the airport's own published information says happens at the border now, drawing on its own EES page rather than general assumptions about how the system works.
Who this actually affects
EES applies to non-EU, non-Schengen nationals on short stays. If you are travelling on an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, none of this changes your experience at Prague's border control, and you continue through the same EU/EEA lanes as before. The airport's page frames the system as recording "the time and place of entry and exit for non-EU/non-Schengen short-stay travellers," which is the group this guide, and the airport's own kiosks, are aimed at.
What the first registration collects
For an eligible traveller's first crossing into the Schengen Area since the system's rollout, EES creates a full record: your travel document data, a facial photograph, and fingerprints, alongside the date and place of entry. Prague Airport's own page describes the system's biometric step as "biometric checks (face image and fingerprints)," and states that the system "replaces manual passport stamping with a digital record." Beyond this first-time enrolment, the European External Action Service describes travellers on a later trip as being checked "whether their details are already stored in the system, and then proceed directly to a border officer for verification," rather than repeating the full data-capture step from scratch — though neither source specifies exactly how long a stored record remains valid before a fresh enrolment is required, so this guide does not state a figure it cannot confirm.
Where to register at Prague Airport
Prague Airport asks arriving eligible travellers to use the self-service kiosks before reaching the border desk: "All inbound non-EU/non-Schengen nationals are requested to register at any of the EES self-service kiosks available in the arrival area before approaching the border control." These kiosks capture the biometric and document data, after which you proceed to an officer for the final check, similar in structure to how self-service check-in kiosks work elsewhere in the terminal, though this is a border-control step run by Czech and EU authorities, not the airport's own commercial systems.
Who is exempt
Prague Airport's own list of exemptions is more specific than most airports publish. It states that "children below 12 years/140 cm" are exempt from registration, alongside categories including holders of residence permits, crew members, passengers with reduced mobility, and holders of non-biometric passports. If you are travelling with a young child who falls under that threshold, that child should not need to go through the kiosk or fingerprint step, though you as the accompanying adult, if eligible for EES, would still register in the normal way.
What Prague's page does not cover
Prague Airport's published EES information does not distinguish, in the text this guide could verify, between the exact procedure for a first-time registration and a later re-entry, nor does it state a specific record-validity period. For that level of EU-wide detail, the airport itself points travellers to the EU's own EES resources rather than duplicating them.
Why the kiosk step exists at all
The point of routing eligible travellers through a self-service kiosk before the border desk is to capture the slower part of the process, the biometric and document data entry, without requiring a border officer to do it manually for every arriving passenger. Once your data is at the kiosk, the officer's job is a shorter verification step rather than the full data-entry process. This is the same logic behind self-service systems at other Schengen airports, and it is the reason airports are steering first-time and eligible travellers toward the kiosks rather than having everyone queue directly for a staffed desk.
If you are not sure which lane applies to you
Prague Airport's signage in the arrivals hall separates EU/EEA/Swiss passport holders from everyone else, and the EES kiosks are specifically for the second group. If your passport does not clearly fall into either category, or you are unsure whether an exemption such as the under-12 rule applies to a child travelling with you, ask airport or border staff directly rather than guessing at a kiosk queue, since an incorrect attempt can simply cost you time rather than resolve the question.
Getting into the city afterwards
None of the EES process changes how you get from the airport into central Prague once you clear border control — that remains a separate question of trolleybus, bus and metro connections, addressed on its own.
What to check before you rely on this
Processing times and exact kiosk locations can change, and the airport's own page is the most current source for Prague specifically. Check Prague Airport's EES page directly ahead of travel, particularly if you are arriving during a peak period when first-time registrations may be adding to queue times.