There are doubts over whether UK passport holders will be able to use e-gates at EU airports this summer.
The EU Commission has told the BBC that UK citizens will not have access to them until a new scheme to enhance border security comes into force in October, and even then it is up to individual countries.
When asked if e-gates would be available this summer, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told the BBC: “Nothing is going to happen before that’s [the new scheme] in place.”
Since the UK left the EU bloc, many popular holiday destinations have seen long queues of British travellers at airports as they wait for passports to be checked.
The new European Entry/Exit Scheme (EES) gathers biometric data on citizens arriving in the EU from non-member, third-party countries, which includes the UK.
After technology delays, it is now due to roll out in October 2025.
“The EU is introducing this new entry and exit scheme so nothing is going to happen before that’s in place, and that’s not yet in place. They’ve put the date back for that a few times, the latest date is the autumn, let’s see if that’s stuck to.
“After that it’s up to the member states. But this gives us the possibility, I’d say the probability, that people will be able to use the e-gates in future, which is not a possibility at the moment,” McFadden added.
Monday’s deal between the UK and the EU says there will be “no legal barriers to eGate use for British Nationals traveling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES)”.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said that the UK would “be working with member states to roll that out as quickly as possible”, adding that “talks have started with individual EU nations”.
An EU Commission spokesperson told the BBC that the introduction of the EES would open the possibility of using e-gates for all non-EU citizens, including UK citizens and mean faster processing at borders.
“Once the EES is in place, UK nationals will therefore be able to use e-gates where they are available, provided they are registered in the system.”
Some EU countries already allow UK citizens to use their e-gates, so it is possible that talks with individual nations could result in more letting British passengers use their gates this summer.
Speaking about the agreement on Tuesday with supermarket workers, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “They were excited about the e-gates and being able to go on their holidays, which they have obviously already planned, and not be in the horrendously long queues. “
Surprise inclusion
The inclusion of e-gates in the deal has surprised some in the travel industry, as they had understood the gates were always going to be available to UK passport holders in the EU once EES begins in October.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, an independent travel group, said:
“This new deal appears to offer little more than expanded access to e-gates which are already in use at some destinations and only after the long-delayed digital border system (EES) is introduced, currently planned for an October launch.”
Currently, EU destinations which already allow UK passport holders to use e-gates often then require a secondary check and a passport stamp.
The new deal and EES means UK passport holders will likely no longer require a stamp.
The launch of EES has been in the pipeline for a while. It will see non-EU nationals needing to add their biometric data to a new EU database, which will be done at the point of departure to the EU, either at an airport, port or train station.
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