These are the highest-volume biometric identification systems in this catalogue by a wide margin, and they differ from investigative facial recognition in an important way: they match against government-held identity documents for people whose identity is already asserted, rather than searching a database to name an unknown person.

The EU Entry/Exit System registers a non-EU traveller's passport data plus facial image and fingerprints on first entry and exit, with entry and exit records, then performs fast biometric verification on subsequent crossings. It replaces manual passport stamping and covers short stays of 90 days in any 180. Operated across 29 European countries at all external Schengen crossing points, it became operational on 12 October 2025 with a six-month progressive rollout, and fully operational from 10 April 2026 at all external crossing points except Cyprus and Ireland.

The US Traveler Verification Service captures a live photo of the traveller, taken by CBP or an approved airline, airport or cruise partner, and compares it against passport, US visa or other Department of Homeland Security held photographs. A match verifies identity; the system flags people who may be inadmissible, including visa overstays. On non-match the traveller goes through traditional inspection, and US citizens and eligible foreign nationals may opt out and request a manual document check. CBP has told Congress it processed over 193 million travellers with facial biometrics, confirmed more than 163,000 visa overstays and prevented over 1,500 imposters from entering.

The effectiveness picture is not uniformly positive. A DHS Office of Inspector General review found that between May 2019 and September 2021, CBP officers referred around 23,000 travellers aged 14 and over to secondary inspection when photos could not be matched. Separate reporting found CBP scanned over 23 million faces at more than 30 entry points in 2020 without identifying a single imposter.