Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Travel expert’s warning as passengers could enter the UK passport-free this year

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Travellers heading to the UK are being urged to prepare for rule changes, as passports checks will no longer be required at the border for many major UK airports from October 6 2024

From October 6 2024, travellers may not have to show their passports at certain airports and ports (Getty Images)

People travelling to the UK are being urged to prepare for new rules that could soon see passengers not need to show their passports at the UK border.

The new rule, which is due to launch on October 6, 2024, will mean that travellers may no longer be required to show their passports at most major UK airports which have the right technology installed.




Instead, facial recognition systems at eGates will be used to identify travellers and allow them to pass through border checks more efficiently.

The new rule will also mean that travellers will not be required to show their documents to Border Force staff. At a number of major UK airports eGates are already being used, however they all still require travellers to present their passports. This system could be switched for a passport-less one, as the Mirror experienced at St Pancras last year.

To benefit from the new scheme, travellers must request an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) before they arrive and use a mobile phone to read the chip in their passport. After taking these steps, an image is taken from a travellers passport and sent to the relevant border authority digitally. That means when they arrive at an eGate, the passenger can simply keep their passport in their bag and pass through the eGate.

Instead of scanning passports at eGates, passengers will be identified using facial recognition (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Brits intending on heading to Europe will need to submit fingerprints and facial biometrics in order to use the new system. The Entry/Exit Scheme (EES) has been delayed a number of times, with France specifically requesting to postpone the EES until after the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Anton Radchenko, CEO at flight compensation experts AirAdvisor, has told the Mirror that the change could lead to “chaos” at passport control when it is rolled out, if things go wrong.

He said: “eGates are notoriously prone to outages, you only need to look back to 8 May when passengers arriving at major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh were affected by huge delays due to eGates failing.”

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