Location
Yes, you can cross the border between France and Switzerland inside the airport terminal, even if you have no ticket. You just need a valid passport or identity card. The cross-over point is situated at Departure level (level 3) and is open from 4.00 am until 30 minutes after the last arrival (approx. 00.30am).
However, there is no possibility to cross the border between the carparks.
Yes; the airport consists of two separate parts, a French part and a Swiss part.
Arriving passengers can choose freely if they want to leave the baggage claim area for France or for Switzerland. The respective exits are clearly marked.
To assist with your orientation, here is the terminal map along with parking options.
Terminal
Parkings
EuroAiport is located in France, in the tri-national Upper Rhine Region, i.e. very near to Switzerland and to Germany. For more information please consult: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HQSTXFVKDy2SK6zV9
The border between Switzerland and France (departure hall, level 3) is fully open and crossable. Border controls may be carried out.
A good tip: Observe and follow the official rules onsite.
Working at EuroAirport
All current job vacancies can be viewed here: https://www.euroairport.com/job-offers
Please send your application to the following address:
Human Resource Department
Aéroport de Bâle-Mulhouse
F-68304 Saint-Louis Cedex
or:
Human Resource Department
Flughafen Basel-Mulhouse
CH-4030 Basel
Please note that your application will take some time to process and that we have many applications for a small number of positions.
EES
According to Article 26 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement and Article 13.3 of the Regulation (EU)2017/2226, before boarding transport carriers are obliged to verify that:
non-EU nationals requiring a short-stay visa have one
the number of entries authorised by their visa have not been exhausted.
As passport stamping will no longer exist once the EES is operational, carriers must use an online interface to perform these checks instead.
For more information, please check the FAQ in support of carriers
In addition to the EES, there are currently 3 main centralised information systems that have been developed by the EU with respect to its borders:
These 3 systems are complementary, and - with the exception of SIS - primarily target non-EU nationals. They also help national authorities fight crime and terrorism.
It is expected that a 4th centralised information system - the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) – will be launched soon after the EES and will concern visa-exempt non-EU nationals. Unlike the Visa Information System(which contains information related to Schengen visas), ETIAS will contain information dealing with travel authorisations for non-EU nationals travelling visa-free to the 30 European countries implementing ETIAS.
The Entry/Exit System and the abovementioned systems will be part of the interoperability between the EU information systems framework that will further help to correctly identify persons whose data are stored in these IT systems, therefore contributing to combating identity fraud.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ‘purpose limitation’ is a requirement that personal data be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not be processed further in a manner incompatible with those purposes. The EES complies with this and other data protection principles, such as “data protection by design and data protection by default”, and the requirements of necessity, proportionality, and data quality.
Safeguards are in place to ensure the rights of travellers as regards the protection of their private lives and personal data. Their personal data will only be retained in the EES for as long as necessary and for the purpose(s) for which it was collected.
Read more on biometrics and data held on the EES.
If you have been granted access to a national facilitation programme, the passport control officers in the respective territory may not need to verify:
UK nationals and their family members who are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement will be exempt from registration in the EES only if they hold a specific residence document:
Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries who do not hold any of the above documents will be registered in the EES. They can later ask to have their data deleted or amended in the system if they show that they hold any of the above documents.
Learn about how the EES applies to the Withdrawal agreement Beneficiaries. For more information, check the Guidance documents.
Family members include:
General EES data retention rules (see section on data retention) and the automated calculator will not apply to you if you meet the following conditions:
Important: This only concerns family members of citizens of the forementioned countries travelling to or residing in a country other than that of their nationality.
2. You do not hold a residence card pursuant to Directive 2004/38/EC or a residence permit pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002.
Example 1
You are an American citizen, living in New York City. You are 17 years old and the son of a German national. You want to visit your father, who does not live in Germany, but in Spain.
In this case, you will be registered in the EES as a family member. Reduced data retention rules will apply to you, while the automated calculator will not.
Example 2
You are an American citizen, living in New York City. You are married to a French national, and you want to visit them in France, where they live.
In this case, you will be registered in the EES as a regular traveller and not as a family member. The general data retention rules and automated calculator will apply to you.
No. Your entry will not be, in principle, refused based on this reason, as valid biometric and non-biometric passports are accepted for travelling in the European countries using the EES.
Most travel documents, including non-biometric passports are accepted by the Member States.
No. In principle, both biometric and non-biometric passports will be accepted when crossing the borders, if valid and all the other entry conditions are fulfilled.
You only need biometric passport if you want to use automated ways to cross the borders (“self-service systems”), which are available at certain border crossing points.
EU countries generally accept most travel documents, including non-biometric passports.
You need to have a biometric passport - a passport containing a chip with your biometric information collected from you at the moment you applied for the passport.
If you do not have a biometric passport, you will not be able to use self-service systems.
European countries using the EES may decide to further automate their processes. Automation means that, non-EU nationals are able to benefit from dedicated equipment – a “self-service system”. If available at the border crossing, the self-service system allows you to:
After using the self-service system, you can go to a border control lane, where the passport control officer will have already received:
The passport control officer can then ask further questions before deciding to grant or refuse you access to the respective territory.
The automated border processes, before reaching the passport control officer, will help to gradually reduce queues. Automation replaces time-consuming manual checks.
Biometrics are a reliable method of:
Biometrics can increase security in European countries using the EES by:
Although collecting biometrics can have an impact on travellers’ privacy, the technology used in the EES ensures that people’s fundamental rights are protected.
The EES will store different biometric identifiers depending on whether or not you need a short-stay visa.
In this case, the system will store only your facial image (your fingerprints were already registered when you applied for a visa).
In this case, the system will store 4 of your fingerprints and your facial image.
Currently, the fingerprints of children below 12 years old are not scanned, even if they are subject to the EES.
For most of the non-EU nationals, the EES:
The EES also makes it easier to identify people:
As a result, the EES supports the identification of terrorists, criminals, suspects and victims of crimes.
The EES applies to you if you are a non-EU national travelling for a short stay to a European country using the EES and you either:
Your travel document data and other personal data will be collected, including your entry and exit dates, and will be registered electronically in the system. This procedure will facilitate your border crossing.
If you overstay the period allowed in the European countries using the EES, the system will identify you and record this information.
In the event that the authorities refuse you entry, the system will also record this information.
The period of 90 days in any 180 days is calculated as a single period for all the European countries using the EES.
The Entry/Exit System (EES) will be deployed gradually across the external borders of the 29 European countries over a period of 6 months. These European countries will introduce the different elements of the EES in phases, including the collection of biometric data, such as facial image and fingerprints. This means that travellers’ biometric data (facial image and fingerprints) might not be collected at every border crossing point right away, and their personal information may not be registered in the system. Passports will continue to be stamped as usual.
This progressive implementation will last until 9 April 2026. From 10 April 2026, the EES will be fully operational at all external border crossing points of the European countries using the system.