Airports outside the UK and Ireland with eGates that accept UK passports

[johncrossley]

Which airports outside the UK and Ireland have eGates that accept UK passports for entry into the country?

 

[cool110]

Once EES becomes operational the ones in the Schengen area should start opening up.

 

[joncombe]

From memory Turin I believe though you have to get a stamp after. I think also Amsterdam Schiphol.

 

[johncrossley]

I think also Amsterdam Schiphol.

That is only for leaving the country, unless that has changed recently.

 

[KT550]

Australia (2018)

 

[WestCoast]

New Zealand allows UK passport holders to use their eGates.

Also in the EU, many airports now in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and I believe now Belgium have special lanes which certain non-EU nationalities including UK can use with officers behind them stamping.

 

[Mike395]

A couple of others within Europe (though you then need to go to a desk to get the passport stamped):

France (at least at major ports of entry e.g. CDG Airport/St Pancras International - though the latter is having a remodel of the immigration layout at the moment so its temporarily manned desks only!)
Spain/Canary Islands

 

[bspahh]

This 2022 article says that at Lisbon airport you can use an e-gate with a UK passport

According to its official statement, “the Immigration and Border Service (SEF) started this week (12th April) to operate four new generation e-gates at Lisbon Airport, ensuring a faster and more functional border control at arrivals for nationals of the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore.

These new e-gates have a faster and more functional operating system, which allows passports with biometric data to be read more quickly, and are part of a set of 50 that are in operation in all national airports.

The RAPID system enables automated border control, supervised by SEF Inspectors. Automatically, and in less than 20 seconds, the system authenticates the travel document and, through a facial recognition system, compares at the moment the passenger’s face with the photograph registered on the document’s chip through a proprietary algorithm and a technological biometrics solution. After validation of the identification process, which includes a search in international databases, the passenger is authorised to continue his journey.

The new system performs this process in just “one step” and all procedures are performed in a single passenger stop.
In practice, the new e-gates, besides presenting a more modern layout and suitable to the current passenger flow, have some innovative features based on the principles of security, modernisation and interoperability, culminating in a reduction of times in all steps of the process.”

 

[Bantamzen]

A couple of others within Europe (though you then need to go to a desk to get the passport stamped):

France (at least at major ports of entry e.g. CDG Airport/St Pancras International - though the latter is having a remodel of the immigration layout at the moment so its temporarily manned desks only!)
Spain/Canary Islands

Yeah, I went through Palma de Mallorca last September where they allowed the use of eGates on arrival, with passports stamped afterwards.

 

[SargeNpton]

I used the e-reader at Vancouver last year to validate my passport against the Canadian electronic travel authorisation. No subsequent human interaction required.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Budapest had this arrangement in place last year

 

[Harpers Tate]

If you have Global Entry then many USA airports have (mostly) automated immigration. GE is a paid service $100 for 5 years plus a UK fee for the CRB check. Initial enrolment is online and is confirmed (or denied) by a US immigration official on or after your first arrival thereafter. After that, you are good to go on future visits. It also comes with TSA PreCHK which is expedited EXIT security screening at US airports.

 

[jon81uk]

At Gran Canaria we has e-gate with a passport stamp after.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Canadian airports don't have e-gates but you have no interaction with immigration / police on arrival.
You complete a customers declaration electronically form and scan your passport on an electronic kiosk.
This will then print a form which you hand to a customs official.

 

[zwk500]

Bologna does (went through in early March). Same as other Schengen area airports above, E-gate then go to the desk for a stamp if you need it.

 

[Snow1964]

Currently on holiday in La Gomera, and flew into Tenerife South. It has 4 e-gates for UK only, where also have to hold a finger on sensor whilst looking into screen, then go to a kiosk for a passport stamp.

All very neat, except it means when you arrive, even if your airplane is right in front of the terminal, have to have a bus to take you to separate entrance at end of terminal building. And if you are on a full Easyjet A321 flight with 240 passengers like we were, adds about 15 minutes to arrival time.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

From memory Turin I believe though you have to get a stamp after. I think also Amsterdam Schiphol.

Same at Bergamo e-gates followed by then having to queue for a stamp

 

[Mojo]

Singapore accepts UK passports at their eGates.

Similarly Indonesia also worked fine if you have applied for an eVisa on Arrival in advance.

Mexico also allows the UK, but you don’t get a stamp, but instead a little ticket which you *must* hold on to. If you go to a manned desk you do get stamped.

This 2022 article says that at Lisbon airport you can use an e-gate with a UK passport

I’m not sure if this is commonplace across the Schengen area with other places using eGates but when exiting Lisbon last year there were a number of disgruntled customers being sent to manned desks as the eGates there would only accept customers to exit if they had also previously entered via an eGate in Portugal. All of the people rejected seemed to have come off a cruise but I suppose it’s possible you could have entered via another country or a manned desk.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I’m not sure if this is commonplace across the Schengen area with other places using eGates but when exiting Lisbon last year there were a number of disgruntled customers being sent to manned desks as the eGates there would only accept customers to exit if they had also previously entered via an eGate in Portugal. All of the people rejected seemed to have come off a cruise but I suppose it’s possible you could have entered via another country or a manned desk.

It's not normal in Schengen for them to work that way, so it must be a peculiarity of Portugal. There is a possibility that the border controls there were only carried out visually, as cruise ship passengers would be very low risk, and hence the manual checks were required to confirm that they hadn't overstayed.

 

[Chester1]

United Arab Emirates allows British Citizens to use e-gates for second entry and afterwards. No need for entry or exit stamps because its all electronic.

 

[AltcarBob]

Same at Bergamo e-gates followed by then having to queue for a stamp

Confirm this was the case at Bergamo last week. However the surly disinterested official had four attempts at stamping my passport as he kept stamping the corner of pages!! Then more or less threw the passport back at me. Welcome to Italy!!

 

[Fred43123]

Arrecife Airport has an agreement where UK passports just use the E-Gates on the way in then each gate has e-gates/passport booths and passengers passports are checked there then the boarding pass is scanned at a second desk then board the plane. No entry or exit stamps needed.

 

[westv]

I thought a stamp was now required at all entry/exits from EU countries (except Ireland) for UK citizens.

 

[ainsworth74]

I’m not sure if this is commonplace across the Schengen area with other places using eGates but when exiting Lisbon last year there were a number of disgruntled customers being sent to manned desks as the eGates there would only accept customers to exit if they had also previously entered via an eGate in Portugal. All of the people rejected seemed to have come off a cruise but I suppose it’s possible you could have entered via another country or a manned desk.

When I went to Portugal in the autumn of 2022 I entered at Porto via a manual desk and exited at an e-gate in Lisbon with just a stamp from a guy sat at a desk behind the gates.

That being said some people were struggling to get them to work, though it seemed a mixture of people rather than a group or one nationality.

 

[Wandering Pom]

I thought a stamp was now required at all entry/exits from EU countries (except Ireland) for UK citizens.

Yes, it is - but, assuming you're referring to Arrecife, that's in the Canary Islands, which are outside the EU.
EDIT: I was wrong about the Canary Islands status.

 

[westv]

Yes, it is - but, assuming you're referring to Arrecife, that's in the Canary Islands, which are outside the EU.

Are you sure? I thought they were in the EU as they are Spanish territory

 

[zwk500]

Yes, it is - but, assuming you're referring to Arrecife, that's in the Canary Islands, which are outside the EU.

The Canary Islands are an Outermost Region of the EU, and are therefore in it, but have derogations to account for local differences. The Canaries are outside the EU VAT area, but inside the Customs Union and part of the Schengen Area.

 

[Wandering Pom]

Apologies, I clearly got the wrong idea about the Canary Islands somehow. Previous post updated.

 

[Mag_seven]

I thought a stamp was now required at all entry/exits from EU countries (except Ireland) for UK citizens.

It is - its just that the initial inspection is sometimes done via an e-gate followed by a manual stamp after that.

 

[sannox]

Canadian airports don't have e-gates but you have no interaction with immigration / police on arrival.
You complete a customers declaration electronically form and scan your passport on an electronic kiosk.
This will then print a form which you hand to a customs official.

Toronto Pearson has e-gates in T1, but it's pretty similar to the kiosks other than it processes travellers one at a time whereas the kiosks can do groups. You can also pre-fill in the declaration on the ArriveCan app to save time.

Also I don't think I've ever not spoken to a CBSA officer after the kiosk and before customs (even if it is just a short check).