A Lords committee has urged the government to use all diplomatic levers at their disposal to delay the rollout of the Entry/Exit System (EES) which is due to be implemented later this year.
The cross-party committee says travellers could face significant disruption if new systems are brought in ahead of the rollout of a new EU smartphone app, which would remove the need for facial biometric and personal traveller data to be recorded at the border.
Following the Brexit vote, the UK negotiated for British travellers to become “third-country nationals” in a bid to “take back control of our borders”.
It means that come autumn this year, every British visitor to the EU and the wider Schengen Area must provide additional data under the supervision of a European frontier official, which will sharply increase the processing time at ports, rail terminals and airports.
Ahead of the rollout, Lord Foster of Bath has written to Tom Pursglove, minister for Legal Migration and the Border, asking him to “encourage the EU to delay the introduction of the EES until a smartphone application for pre-registration is ready”.
The letter says: “In the absence of a smartphone application to capture in advance information required for the EES (including facial image), we believe there is a significant chance of serious delays for passengers, and disruption in Kent.”
Writing in the Independent, Simon Calder notes that airline passengers with British passports are also expected to face significantly longer wait times on arrival to the European Union, with some nations estimating the requirement will quadruple the time taken to process each traveller.
A government spokesperson said: “We will continue to work closely with the EU and member states, as well as wider stakeholders including global carriers and ports, to minimise any impact of the upcoming changes.”
The European Union claims the Entry/Exit System will save time, saying: “The EES replaces passport stamping and automates border control procedures, making travelling to European countries using the EES more efficient for the traveller.”
Once the Entry/Exit Scheme is running, UK travellers to Europe will be required to obtain an online permit, known as Etias, likely to be introduced around six months after the EES is running.
Lord Foster’s committee has also been studying the UK’s own Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), which currently applies only to nationals of Gulf countries, plus Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In his letter to the minister, the chair asks for the planned autumn 2024 roll-out of the UK ETA to most other countries, and to the European Union in spring 2025, to be deferred rather than risk adding to an already complex set of changes. He “strongly recommends that the government collaborates with the EU to avoid any clash between the introduction of the EU and the UK schemes”.
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