Travellers to the UK from seven long-haul countries will gain faster access to the country from the summer.
Visitors from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea will be permitted to use e-gates at UK airports and at Eurostar terminals.
The change will be introduced in June, ahead of the summer travel peak, and will benefit an estimated 6.5 million travellers.
Chancellor Philip Hammond made the announcement as part of is spring statement yesterday.
“This will significantly reduce queues and improve the flow of passengers and the overall experience at the UK border landing cards will also begin to be abolished from June 2019,” he said.
“This will reduce bureaucracy for travellers and speed up the processing of passengers on arrival in the UK.”
The electronic passports gates are currently available to travellers from the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
