Huge passport change means Brits can soon dodge long queues when returning from holiday
BRITS returning home will face shorter wait times at passport control after a facial recognition trial passed with flying colours.
Border Force conducted a successful trial of the technology that would allow for contactless passage when arriving back at UK airports.
The trial run was held at Manchester Airport in October which would replace the traditional passport checks with facial recognition technology.
Border Force boss, Phil Douglas, said the trial in Manchester “considerably reduced” waiting times.
“So people approach the e-gate, it recognizes them [as] already on our database, and they’re checked through,” Douglas told The Times.
The facial recognition was fitted into existing passport e-gates and reduced waiting time as passengers no longer had to scan their passports.
“The border has really changed over the last few years and that work is picking up pace. Public expectations have changed and technology has changed,” Douglas added.
“We now have AI facial recognition, the use of biometric identifiers in parallel with the more traditional forms of identification, like visas and passports.”
Douglas explained that Border Force wanted to make use of the existing 270 e-gates at airports and ports around the country by fitting them with the new technology.
“It’s our intention that almost everybody will go through an e-gate of one description or another,” Douglas said.
“The Manchester pilot has shown that we can actually reduce transaction times considerably as well.”
He did warn that while this was a huge leap in technological advancement and would reduce waiting times, there was “something important about the ‘theatre’ of the border.”
Douglas said passengers should still expect to feel a sense of a border and scrutiny when entering the UK and when “they’re stopped it’s a moment they know they’re being checked.”
The UK is not the only country to introduce facial recognition technology at airports with the United Arab Emirates allowing passengers from 50 countries to enter using it.
Australia and the US were also considering trialling the software.
The Sun contacted Border Force for comment.
Facial recognition technology was also being considered at ports which would remove the need to even step out of your car to go through passport control.
The technology will be used at ports to match their faces with passport and car details already logged in government databases.
The cameras, which are being trialled at four ports since November 2024 – are designed to cut queues that build up during busy holiday periods.
Only “passengers of interest” highlighted as a risk because of intelligence, safeguarding concerns or questions over their identity will have to undergo manual checks by a Border Force officer on arrival.
