UK home secretary Priti Patel has announced that the country
will introduce electronic travel authorisations for those who wish to enter the
country who are not British or Irish citizens.
The
government said, “Visitors and transit passengers who do not currently need a
visa for short stays, or who do not already have an immigration status prior to
travelling, will be required to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)
as an additional security measure. This is similar to systems in place in other
countries; the US, for example, requires particular travellers, including UK
citizens, to obtain an ESTA before travel.”
It added, “The ETA scheme will allow security checks to be
conducted and more informed decisions, as to whether individuals should be
granted permission to travel to the UK, to be taken at an earlier stage in
advance of travel. Moreover, as part of our ambition to introduce a fully
digital end-to-end customer journey, we will aim to replace the vignette which is
currently manually inserted into passports or travel documents with a digital
status record.”
It said that the scheme would begin to be tested in the autumn.
The home secretary said the UK would also stop accepting ID
cards issued by European Economic Area countries and insist on a passport being
shown.
Patel said, “This year, we will end the use of insecure ID cards
for people to enter our country and we will apply tougher UK criminality rules.
“We are working on further reforms, including electronic travel authorisations,
as part of a simpler and more secure, universal permissions to travel
requirement.
“Our new plan will make it easier to identify potential threats
before they reach the border, through targeted and effective interventions from
co-ordinated multi-agency operations.
“Our new fully digital border will provide the ability to count
people in and count people out of the country.”