TRAVELLING to the UK? Visitors from Australia are now able to use ePassport gates at entry points throughout the UK.
The move, which also applies to "juxtaposed controls" such as Calais and Eurotunnel stations on both sides of the English Channel, is designed to speed up border controls for countries deemed low risk.
Travellers from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the US are also now able to use ePassport gates, which have been available to British and EU nationals since 2008.
The latter will remain eligible to use them assuming the UK leaves the EU.
The British government is also removing the need for Australians to fill in landing cards upon arrival in the UK.
The move allows more nationalities to use ePassport gates than anywhere else in the world. In the year ending September 2018, 51.9 million passengers used them at UK ports and juxtaposed controls.
The gates use facial recognition technology to compare the passenger's likeness 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 to have their identity and passport checked.
The gates can be used by those aged 18 and over, and who are travelling using a biometric or "chipped" passport. Those aged 12-17, and who are accompanied by an adult, are also able to use them.
There are currently 264 ePassport gates in operation at 15 air and rail terminals in the UK and juxtaposed controls.
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