Home Office Minister, , will today (29 July)
commit the Home Office to working with the French Government,
local authorities and businesses to streamline EU border checks
at the Port of Dover and help reduce the risk of queues at peak
times in Kent when new border arrangements come into place in the
Autumn.
She will accuse the previous Government of not doing enough to
plan for the change and warn their failure to act may still
result in delays and travel chaos when the new system is first
introduced.
To mitigate the impact, she will lay a Statutory Instrument in
Parliament to enable French border officials to operate within an
expanded border control zone at the Port of Dover.
This change in law will deliver more space to process passengers
when the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) checks are introduced and
ensure a better customer experience for those crossing the
border.
To support the expansion of the French border control zone, the
Home Office is working with the French Ministry of Interior to
amend the border control arrangements in place between the two
countries.
From Autumn this year, the EU will be introducing a new digital
border system to strengthen its security – known as the
Entry/Exit System (EES).
Travellers entering from non-EU countries, including the UK, will
be required to register their details at the EU border, providing
their fingerprints and having their photograph taken.
Today's change in law forms part of the new Government's plan to
prepare for EES checks coming into force, to help minimise the
risk of traffic disruption, with more to come in the coming
weeks.
Minister for Immigration & Citizenship, said:
“The EU's Entry/Exit System has been in the pipeline for several
years. But instead of pulling out all the stops to ensure
travellers and businesses coming into and out of Britain will be
unaffected, the previous Government seems to have sat on its
hands and let others get on with the hard work needed.
“We have been reviewing the preparations that have been made so
far and, although the Port of Dover, local authorities and
business have done much excellent work, previous Home Office
Ministers have simply not done enough to mitigate the impact. We
are now working swiftly to minimise the risk of excessive queue
times as much as possible.
“However, we have lost valuable time under the previous
Government. EES checks will be a major change to the EU border so
the public should prepare for some queues during peak times when
they are first introduced.”
Currently, French passport control takes place for passengers on
arrival at the port, before they check-in and board the ferry at
Port of Dover's Eastern Docks. However, due to limited capacity
at the site, Port of Dover has developed a plan to permanently
undertake EES checks for coaches at a new Border Control Zone at
Dover Western Docks.
Over the past few months, the Port of Dover has been making major
upgrades to its port infrastructure to prepare for EES. This
includes building new, bespoke facilities to carry out the
checks.
Port of Dover will have 24 kiosks for coach passengers to
complete EES checks and will register passengers in cars using
agents and tablets to make the process as straightforward as
possible.
In addition to the work with Port of Dover, work is underway to
support other juxtaposed ports where the French Government
operates immigration control – including Eurostar and Eurotunnel
– to prepare for the introduction of EES.
This includes making sure the ports have the right technology and
processes in place so that EES registration can take place as
smoothly as possible.
Eurostar will have almost 50 kiosks for people to carry out the
checks, and these will be spread across three locations at the
station. They expect EES registration to be quick and easy.
Eurotunnel will have over 100 kiosks and estimate EES checks will
add just over five minutes to journey times.
