Travellers will soon able to enter UK without using their passports in new trial

01 January 2024 , 19:04

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Travellers could pass through UK borders without showing their passport in a new trial (Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

UK travellers could soon be crossing the border without having to grab their passports following a new trial.

Phil Douglas, director-general of the UK Border Force, said new high-tech gates at airports will use advanced facial recognition technology for people arriving in Britain. The aim is to create an "intelligent border" using "much more frictionless facial recognition than we currently do", according to the border chief.

The government hopes this new tech will bring our border up to the standard seen in places like Dubai, which uses facial recognition for 50 nationalities. Dubai Airports even claim their smart gates allow passengers to pass through immigration procedures "in as little as five seconds."

The announcement comes after repeated scenes of chaos at UK border crossings in recent years due to technological failures, reports the Express.co.uk. One such failure saw tens of thousands of passengers queuing for up to four hours at airports when a systems upgrade failed over the late May bank holiday weekend in 2023.

Mr Douglas also shared his admiration for next-generation e-gates he used on a recent trip to Australia. The Home Office intends the ETA to be implemented for all visitors to the UK who do not need a visa for short stays, including European nationals. Mr Douglas said: “We will know a lot more information about people upfront. We will know if they’ve been in the UK before. We’ll know what their compliance with immigration laws is. And we’ll know if there are any records of them on our security systems. So there will be some people who won’t be getting on the plane.”

8 money changes coming in February including Universal Credit and passport fees

Last year, Passport officials were handed a comfy £2.1million in bonuses - despite a massive backlog of applications. Some 9,609 bonuses totalling £2,105,225 were doled out last year - despite a watchdog revealing 360,000 people waited longer than the target of 10 weeks for their passports to arrive. Travellers who had their hopes dashed missed out on holidays, visiting families abroad and, in some cases, were unable to gain employment or prove their identities.

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Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas