Holidaymakers spared passport queues with facial recognition scan

Telegraph

17-03-2025

British holidaymakers returning home will be allowed to avoid passport queues under plans to use facial recognition technology at ports.
Families and individuals will not have to leave their cars and instead drive through 'contactless corridors', where high-powered cameras will match their faces with passport and car details already logged in government databases.
Similar measures are being planned for airports, where all travellers will be scanned automatically and be able to walk to the exit upon their return.
The technology, which has been on trial since November at four ports, is designed to cut the queues that build up during holiday periods.
Ferry companies currently advise holidaymakers to allow 90 minutes to complete the manual passport inspections and check-in controls by Border Force officers at ports.
Foreigners travelling to Britain will have to submit biometric details through an app as part of the UK's electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme, which launches next month. They will provide their data before they travel and be checked on arrival at the port by the face-scanning cameras.
This will allow security checks to be conducted on people and added to a database before they arrive. Biometric details of British and Irish travellers are already obtained during the passport application process.
Only 'passengers of interest' – highlighted as a risk owing to intelligence, safeguarding concerns or questions over their identity – will have to undergo manual checks on arrival by a Border Force officer.
Four companies have been involved in trialling their technology with the prospect of being introduced within the next year.
'Streamline and efficient'
One source who has seen the technology in operation said: 'At the moment you have to stop and hand your passports through the window of your car to the Border Force officer who puts them through a reader then gives them back to you.
'Under the new system, instead of getting your passports out you look at the camera. They have these really high-powered cameras that can look through the windscreen and take a picture of your face and match it to the face on the database.
'Assuming all is well, then you get the green light and you drive through the border. The other option is that you wind down your window and you all look at an iPad. The aim is to use the technology on maritime and rail routes then on air routes.
iProov, a specialist biometric security company participating in the trials, said its facial comparison technology was designed to identify travellers within their vehicles and link the confirmed passenger ID with the vehicle in which they are travelling.
Andrew Bud, its founder and chief executive, said: 'By bringing the latest identity verification technology to this critical domain, we aim to create a streamlined and efficient experience for all passengers that doesn't compromise on speed or accuracy, and they never have to leave their vehicles.'
A Home Office spokesman said: 'We use a wide range of techniques and technology to protect our border security, but we do not comment on trials of specific equipment.'
A similar European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is due to launch in late 2026 where British travellers will have to provide their biometric data in advance to secure entry to EU countries.
The EU has already warned that ETIAS could lead to significant delays as first-time visitors will have to provide fingerprints or facial scans at border checkpoints.