Consumer organization Which? reported on November 10 that dozens of readers had described errors in their border records, including people wrongly treated as having stayed too long.
The problem reaches beyond a screen displaying the wrong number. A border record can affect whether someone is questioned on another trip and whether they can show that they followed the rules.
Daylight Post found that the right to correct a record does not guarantee a fix before a person's next journey. We compared the reported cases with the EU rules and current guidance from the Dutch border authority, which warns that some corrections cannot be processed immediately.
Why a missing departure matters
The Entry/Exit System, or EES, records border crossings by many visitors from outside the EU. It replaces passport stamps with digital records and biometric checks, such as a face image and fingerprints.
For British holidaymakers using the usual short-stay rules, visits to the Schengen area are limited to 90 days in any 180-day period. Schengen is a group of European countries that generally allow travel between them without routine border checks. The time limit applies across that area, rather than starting again in each country.
The system uses entry and exit dates to work out how much time a traveler has left. If an entry is recorded but a departure is missing, the record can wrongly suggest the person stayed on. An "overstayer" is someone recorded as remaining beyond the permitted time.
Not every British citizen falls under the same arrangements. Residence rights and some family circumstances can mean different rules. The reported problem concerns people whose digital records do not match their actual journeys.
The traveler has to bring the evidence
Which? describes novelist Jojo Moyes discovering in October that her departure from Portugal in May had not been logged. It says she faced requests for more evidence despite a police email confirming her exit. She hired an immigration lawyer.
The case brings the burden of correction into focus. A person needs to know which authority holds the record, how to contact it and what evidence it will accept. Having enough money for professional help should not be the practical test of whether someone can get an official mistake resolved.
A right to correction, but no instant repair
EU law gives people rights to see their EES information and have inaccurate or incomplete records corrected. Requests can be made to the responsible authority in a participating country. A refusal must be explained, and people can complain or challenge it.
The law requires authorities to respond to a request within 45 days. It also requires wrong records to be corrected without delay once the relevant checks establish the error. The 45-day response period is not permission to leave a known mistake untouched for that long, and a reply is not the same as a completed correction.
The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the Dutch border police, acknowledges that missing crossings, duplicate records and wrong calculations can occur. Its current guidance says not all system functions are fully available, so a correction or deletion may not be processed straight away. It also says the volume of requests can mean the full 45-day response period is used.
That guidance describes the Dutch authority's position. It does not establish how long every European country is taking to correct records.
Who carries the consequences while officials check?
A request for correction may be moving through the proper process while the traveler's next flight is approaching. A legal route to challenge a refusal is important, but it does not by itself answer whether a family can confidently make its planned trip.
The Dutch guidance asks people to provide evidence such as a passport copy, boarding passes or other travel records. Keeping that proof may help establish what happened. It also illustrates the burden created when the digital record is wrong: the traveler has to assemble evidence of a departure the border system should have recorded.