Jojo Moyes may face a two-year ban on entering the EU after a digital Entry/Exit System error failed to record her departure from Portugal. French border guards detained her after a holiday and accused her of overstaying, then a senior border control officer in Marseille warned her not to try to enter Europe again until the record is fixed.
She said, "I have spent only 23 days in the EU over the past six months." The missing departure record matters because the Entry/Exit System counts time in the Schengen area by biometric entries and exits, and a false overstay can trigger a fine of up to €10,000 or deportation if the system treats the traveller as having gone beyond the 90 days in any 180-day period allowed for UK citizens.
Portugal and the missing exit
The record problem began in May, when the system did not log Moyes leaving Portugal after her trip. That left her with an entry record but no exit record, the kind of mismatch that can make a traveller appear to have stayed longer than allowed.
The issue goes beyond one traveller. It affects people whose biometric data were entered on arrival in the EU but whose departure was never captured, leaving border records incomplete when they try to travel again.
UK Foreign Office warning
The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of inaccuracies in EES records affecting Britons, including incomplete data and the registration of people exempt from the system. It advises travellers to keep proof of the date of their last departure from the EU and to tell border guards about any discrepancy they spot.
Jane Nolan and her husband found that the EES showed zero available days for travel after they had spent 40 days in France and had not visited the Schengen area since. Their passports were manually stamped when they returned to the United Kingdom in June, after French authorities suspended the EES to avoid queues.
Manual checks and delays
Some countries temporarily suspended use of the EES in the summer and went back to manual passport checks because of technical difficulties and staff shortages. For travellers now caught by a missing departure record, the practical step is the same: keep documentary proof of exit and raise the mismatch before trying to travel again.
Moyes’s case shows how quickly an automated border record can turn into a travel restriction. Until the departure from Portugal is corrected, the system may still treat her as if she overstayed, and that is the record border guards will see first.
