There is a “significant chance of serious delays for passengers.”
New visa schemes by the United Kingdom and European Union could wreak havoc on travelers bound to or from the U.K. later this year, says the upper house of the UK Parliament. The House of Lords’ Justice and Home Affairs Committee has completed an investigation on the U.K. government’s plans to implement an electronic visa scheme (ETA) for visitors, and found several areas of concern in a letter to the country’s minister for Legal Migration and the Border.
Among the committee’s concerns are the fact that the country’s ETA scheme is being implemented too quickly, without the details fully built out. The Committee also raised concerns about the European Union’ upcoming Entry/Exit System (EES), which they say could cause “significant chance of serious delays for passengers,” and disruption in Kent, England, where the U.K. has a land border with France via the Channel Tunnel.
The committee’s concerns appear well founded. In May 2024, there were massive lines at border checkpoints at U.K. airports after the country’s automated screening gates failed. In 2020, testing of post-Brexit checks created a five mile backlog of trucks in Kent, while another committee envisaged 14-hour waits at the port of Dover if the EES proceeds to develop in its current state.
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Each of these has contributed to the House of Lords making recommendations for improvement to the development of both systems.
The ETA system is designed to facilitate the use of automated screening gates, which help expedite processing for travelers entering the country. The ETA would reduce the need for interviews with border agents. Travelers would complete a form with the details of their journey in advance, and an electronic authorization would be attached to their passport, similar to schemes long in place in Australia and New Zealand.
The committee, however, found deficiencies in the U.K.’s current ETA plan, including the fact that information about the ETA is only available in English. The committee also has concerns that the scheme is being implemented too quickly. The committee also has concerns about the timing of the ETA implementation concurrent with the E.U.’s EES scheme, and a similar ETIAS scheme which will also require advance application for visitors.
Also an area of concern is the ongoing question of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The 1998 Belfast Agreement prohibits a “hard border” between Northern Island—part of the U.K.—and the Republic of Ireland—part of the E.U.
The committee also has concerns about low awareness of the upcoming changes—both for U.K. citizens and for visitors to the U.K.—encouraging the development of better technology to inform the public that access requirements for the U.K. are about to change, warning that failure to do so could cause delays. Specifically, the committee recommends that the U.K. government urge the E.U. to delay implementation of EES until a smartphone app for pre-registration is available.
The committee recommended rejecting the current proposal that even passengers transiting airports in the U.K. must apply for and receive an ETA prior to travel, saying that security concerns over travelers without ETAs entering the country illegal should be addressed directly with airports rather than putting the burden of paperwork on travelers who aren’t intending to remain in Britain.
Britain’s ETA scheme currently in use for several Gulf States, and is slated for rollout to the E.U. and the U.S. later this year. EES, the European Union’s entry and exit scheme that could snarl land border traffic, is scheduled for launch in October. The already-delayed ETIAS program planned by the E.U. is slated to go live in mid-2025, after originally being planned for a 2024 launch.