The UK government has announced that visitors from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States are now able to use ePassport gates at ports across the UK and juxtaposed controls in a move designed to speed up border controls for low-risk countries.
The gates use facial recognition technology to compare the passenger’s face to the digital image recorded in their passport. They are monitored by Border Force officers and anyone rejected at the gates will be sent to a manned passport check. There are currently 264 ePassport gates in operation at 15 air and rail terminals in the UK and juxtaposed controls.