The EU is about to sell our most sensitive data to the US for visa-free travel

Summary

US requires access to biometric databases to keep visa free travel In 2022, the US government announced that it would require access to biometric databases of countries if they wish to keep visa exemption for their citizens travelling to the US, including European Union (EU) Member States. These new “Enhanced Border Security Partnerships” (EBSP) involve the automated exchange of personal data for the purposes of screening and identity verification of travellers. While the European Commission started discussing the scheme with the US administration in 2022, it received the official mandate by the Council of the EU to lead the negotiations on behalf of Member States only in December 2025. The goal of these negotiations is to establish a “Framework Agreement” which would set out the modalities of the information exchange and general rules on processing of personal data between the US and Member States. It is on this basis that EU countries would then adopt their own bilateral EBSP agreements directly with the US (or adapt their existing arrangements). The EU is giving into excessive US demands on immense profiling and surveillance of travellers The US’s excessive demands for travellers’ profiling and surveillance in order to stay in its Visa Waiver Programme are nothing less than blackmail. The EU accepting the terms of this power struggle is extremely worrying for the rights of Europeans and any third country nationals registered in European databases. The scheme implies systematic transfers of biometric data and other highly sensitive and subjective “indications of risk” based on European national databases to the US government, which has shown a blatant disregard for basic human rights in its harsh and inhumane treatment of migrants and visitors. In that regard, the draft text does nothing to protect from discrimination based on political opinions, which is worrying because the US is already cracking down political dissent, including its unlawful practice of screeni...