The UK Home Office announced that starting July 8, children as young as eight will be allowed to use e-gates at airports when returning from abroad. This change aims to speed up border control processes for families.
Key Takeaways
The UK Home Office announced that starting July 8, children as young as eight will be allowed to use e-gates at airports when returning from abroad. This change aims to speed up border control processes for families.
- Children aged eight and nine can now use e-gates if they are at least 120cm tall and accompanied by an adult.
- The new rule applies to over 290 e-gates across 13 UK airports and ports in Brussels and Paris.
- The government estimates that up to 1.5 million additional children will be able to use the e-gates.
- E-gates are available to British nationals, EU citizens, and residents from several other countries.
Children aged eight and nine can now use the biometric scanners if they are at least 120cm tall and accompanied by an adult, according to DailyMail.com. The new rule applies to over 290 e-gates across 13 UK airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Additionally, the gates will be available at ports in Brussels and Paris.
The government estimates that up to 1.5 million additional children will be able to use the e-gates, which are designed to make moving through border control faster. The e-gates use facial recognition technology to check passengers' identities against the photo in their passport, generally quicker than manual inspections.
The announcement is part of the government's UK border transformation program, which also includes the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme enforced since February. This scheme provides digital permission for people from visa-free countries like Canada and Australia to travel to Britain at a cost of £20.
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