Eurostar collecting Advance Passenger Information

[AlbertBeale]

To be fair, we're far from the only developed non-Schengen country to not check on exit (see also USA/Canada/Australia). I wouldn't be surprised to see these disappear within Schengen too once EES/ETIAS has been up and running for a while and thus the bloc's immigration systems will be linked and the need for passport stamps no more.

Back on topic - I'm hoping this might eliminate the additional check (carried out by Mitie staff) post security at St Pancras, the exit passport check was always a bit of a bottleneck.

Is this something besides the French/EU entrance and UK exit checks??

From the context it's pretty clear that you're just supposed to put in what's on the passport; I don't think there's any real risk of this somewhat contrived scenario (trans people will either have changed the gender and name in their passport, or they won't and be painfully aware of this when filling in the form...).

For my money, the real omission as far as that field is concerned is the X / non-binary gender option; even though the UK steadfastly refuses to acknowledge its existence, if you have a passport from another country with an X in it, it's impossible to fill out the form correctly.

The point, surely, is that if you need to complete an API form based on what's on your passport, then logically (and to save arguments) the questions asked should match the categories on passports. For good or ill, and irrespective of the options allowed by different countries, as far as I'm aware all passports give a person's "sex", yet the Eurostar API question asks for "gender". You say that trans people might have changed their gender in their passport - no, the point surely is that they have changed what's listed as their sex in their passport, since it's "sex" not "gender" which is included in passports.

 

[Trainbike46]

Is this something besides the French/EU entrance and UK exit checks??

The Mitie check is the "uk exit check", as the uk does not do exit checks

The point, surely, is that if you need to complete an API form based on what's on your passport, then logically (and to save arguments) the questions asked should match the categories on passports. For good or ill, and irrespective of the options allowed by different countries, as far as I'm aware all passports give a person's "sex", yet the Eurostar API question asks for "gender". You say that trans people might have changed their gender in their passport - no, the point surely is that they have changed what's listed as their sex in their passport, since it's "sex" not "gender" which is included in passports.

Some countries allow an entry of "X" on the sex field of the passport, in addition to allowing M or F

If you have such a passport you can't accurately complete the form on the eurostar website, as it only allows you to fill in M or F

 

[AlbertBeale]

The Mitie check is the "uk exit check", as the uk does not do exit checks

So who are Mitie doing it for, if it's not a UK government exit check?

 

[eta]

the point surely is that they have changed what's listed as their sex in their passport, since it's "sex" not "gender" which is included in passports.

Sure, it absolutely makes sense for the wording to match the passport field. I was just pointing out that it's a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things — they should correct it, but it's not likely to be a problem in practice.

 

[Trainbike46]

So who are Mitie doing it for, if it's not a UK government exit check

Eurostar employs mitie to scan passports, until now this was how eurostar collected advance passenger information, which it passes to the UK government - so it is an interesting question what will happen with the mitie passport scan. Will they keep doing it to ensure the information provided in advance is accurate? Will it disappear? Will it change, and if so, how?

 

[jamesontheroad]

Australia does exit immigration, though Ireland (EU member) doesn't.

Ireland is in the EU, but not in Schengen, rather the UK/RoI Common Travel Area. So, like the UK, it can choose whether or not to conduct exit checks.

Schengen countries follow the Schengen Borders Code, which determines the checks made on EU and non-EU citizens are subject to entering or exiting the Schengen Zone.

 

[MattSGB]

I've just booked tickets for autumn and as others posted, the email asks for you to fill in API before you can download tickets. I haven't done so because my passport will only have 5 months left on it by that date, and I would have preferred to renew it before travelling. However...

The Eurostar android app lets me view tickets and even save them to Google Wallet without filling in API. What would happen if I tried to travel on these without submitting API?

Also, I have other tickets for the summer, booked long-ago. The tickets are already downloaded, printed and added to Google Wallet. For this booking I have heard nothing from Eurostar about API. Again, what happens if I turn up and try to travel with my printed tickets or Google Wallet?

 

[AlbertBeale]

I've just booked tickets for autumn and as others posted, the email asks for you to fill in API before you can download tickets. I haven't done so because my passport will only have 5 months left on it by that date, and I would have preferred to renew it before travelling. However...

The Eurostar android app lets me view tickets and even save them to Google Wallet without filling in API. What would happen if I tried to travel on these without submitting API?

Also, I have other tickets for the summer, booked long-ago. The tickets are already downloaded, printed and added to Google Wallet. For this booking I have heard nothing from Eurostar about API. Again, what happens if I turn up and try to travel with my printed tickets or Google Wallet?

You'll presumably get an e-mail a little while prior to the journey asking for the information. But since no-one can guarantee that a message will reach you, and the ticket is already safely in your hands, they clearly can't make this retrospective. If you turn up not having done this with a ticket you got before they asked for the information, they'll obviously have to let you travel. The system won't be universal until all tickets bought and printed prior to the introduction of this request have been used.

 

[Birkonian]

I am curious. I am travelling to Paris on Friday and have been asked to provide Advance Passenger Information. This was not required when I last used E* in August. I presume this has to do with the UK's new entry requirements but am wondering when it in fact started - and whether it will improve anything at border control.

As I say, just curious.

I booked an outward journey yesterday and had to provide the information. The inward leg was booked some time ago with no API requirement. I presume I'll be asked to provide it before I travel, similar to Eurotunnel.

 

[Mojo]

The Mitie check is the "uk exit check", as the uk does not do exit checks

A technicality perhaps, but the UK does do exit checks. They were reinstated on 8th April 2015, after having been scrapped in 1998. It is just that they are collected and forwarded electronically by airlines or other transport operators from the API data you provide in advance (or details collected at checkin), as opposed to requiring a physical check.

So who are Mitie doing it for, if it's not a UK government exit check?

It is an exit check. Under present regulations, it is only airlines and maritime transport operators that are obliged to collect API, so given Eurostar don't [didn't] collect this, they utilise staff to scan passports (or have eligible customers use the SmartCheck App/iProov.me) so this data can be transmitted to the Home Office as required.

Exit checks fact sheet

www.gov.uk

 

[RT4038]

Eurostar employs mitie to scan passports, until now this was how eurostar collected advance passenger information, which it passes to the UK government - so it is an interesting question what will happen with the mitie passport scan. Will they keep doing it to ensure the information provided in advance is accurate? Will it disappear? Will it change, and if so, how?

Probably look at the airline industry - you fill in API on the website, and your passport gets scanned/checked before departure at the airport. I expect similar will happen with E*.

 

[Trainbike46]

Probably look at the airline industry - you fill in API on the website, and your passport gets scanned/checked before departure at the airport. I expect similar will happen with E*.

If that's how it will go, why bother with the online API? It's just an extra step with the situation at St Pancras being the same

 

[RT4038]

If that's how it will go, why bother with the online API? It's just an extra step with the situation at St Pancras being the same

Why does the airline industry do it? To get Advanced Passenger Information I guess. I doubt E* doing it now has much to do with the situation at St Pancras; the scanning of departing passenger passports is not a bottleneck anyway.

 

[duesselmartin]

just booked a Lufthansa flight. The site has an API option but I can book without filling it in. So nothing unsual it seems.

 

[RT4038]

just booked a Lufthansa flight. The site has an API option but I can book without filling it in. So nothing unsual it seems.

I expect you'll find it needs completing at the time of checking in.

 

[Birkonian]

I'm travelling to Amsterdam on Tuesday. My Eurostar booking was made many months ago. I received an email yesterday asking me to provide API.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I made a booking yesterday; it requested the information and added a warning that the tickets would not be released without it.

It's really no fuss to fill in though; only takes about a minute.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I made a booking yesterday; it requested the information and added a warning that the tickets would not be released without it.

It's really no fuss to fill in though; only takes about a minute.

If you have to hand the relevant details for the person/people you're travelling with...

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If you have to hand the relevant details for the person/people you're travelling with...

Yes, but surely you'd have that to hand anyway if you were booking any form of international travel?

 

[AlbertBeale]

Yes, but surely you'd have that to hand anyway if you were booking any form of international travel?

I've frequently booked tickets for myself and a friend/friends whilst - obviously - knowing the name of the person I'm travelling with, but not the foggiest of their passport number and so on... And even the name isn't a big deal, since Eurostar say, I'm sure, that if you misspell a name on a ticket, no problem, just turn up anyway; presumably this will change now.

 

[jon0844]

Eurostar employs mitie to scan passports, until now this was how eurostar collected advance passenger information, which it passes to the UK government - so it is an interesting question what will happen with the mitie passport scan. Will they keep doing it to ensure the information provided in advance is accurate? Will it disappear? Will it change, and if so, how?

My guess would be disappear, as that's a few jobs eliminated and a few quid saved to be passed on to passengers.

(Okay, maybe not the last bit!).

 

[Birkonian]

I made a booking yesterday; it requested the information and added a warning that the tickets would not be released without it.

It's really no fuss to fill in though; only takes about a minute.

Yes, Eurotunnel have required this information for a number of years. I keep a scan of my passport on my phone so I can enter the information anytime.

 

[Brooke]

Just one additional note: I have the iProov.me set up and so far I have not been asked for API.

Whereas my wife does not have iProov.me and has been asked for API.

So it seems common sense applies and having iProov.me does not require to provide API again.

Although I wonder if iProov.me might be withdrawn in future as the new processes come in.

 

[Cloud Strife]

A technicality perhaps, but the UK does do exit checks. They were reinstated on 8th April 2015, after having been scrapped in 1998. It is just that they are collected and forwarded electronically by airlines or other transport operators from the API data you provide in advance (or details collected at checkin), as opposed to requiring a physical check.

The curious thing about these exit checks is that they seem capable of matching up data. I've been deliberately mixing and matching documents since Brexit out of idle curiosity, and not once has it aroused any attention. For instance, in the past 2.5 years, I've used both Polish and British passports for API and border control in the Schengen->UK direction, and both passports plus my Polish ID card in the UK->Schengen direction.

Nothing has been brought up or even mentioned despite deliberately using the manual passport controls (the chip is broken on my UK passport, but it works on my Polish one) each and every time. I've even tried to set off an overstay by using my Polish ID card to travel to the UK, then using my Polish passport to enter the UK, and then I exited on my British passport. Then, as my next visit to the UK was more than 6 months after the previous one, I used my Polish passport to enter the UK again, and not a word was said.

I can only assume that they've somehow linked all three documents together.

 

[Teebs]

The curious thing about these exit checks is that they seem capable of matching up data. I've been deliberately mixing and matching documents since Brexit out of idle curiosity, and not once has it aroused any attention. For instance, in the past 2.5 years, I've used both Polish and British passports for API and border control in the Schengen->UK direction, and both passports plus my Polish ID card in the UK->Schengen direction.

Nothing has been brought up or even mentioned despite deliberately using the manual passport controls (the chip is broken on my UK passport, but it works on my Polish one) each and every time. I've even tried to set off an overstay by using my Polish ID card to travel to the UK, then using my Polish passport to enter the UK, and then I exited on my British passport. Then, as my next visit to the UK was more than 6 months after the previous one, I used my Polish passport to enter the UK again, and not a word was said.

I can only assume that they've somehow linked all three documents together.

I'm not 100% certain because I wasn't part of the conversation, but I'm fairly sure I heard a woman at Brussels being taken aside and told to wait (maybe for a telling off?) at the UK border control for trying to enter the UK using a foreign passport when she was a UK citizen. No idea what the outcome was. I switch from my EU passport to the UK one between the two checks.

 

[Trainbike46]

The curious thing about these exit checks is that they seem capable of matching up data. I've been deliberately mixing and matching documents since Brexit out of idle curiosity, and not once has it aroused any attention. For instance, in the past 2.5 years, I've used both Polish and British passports for API and border control in the Schengen->UK direction, and both passports plus my Polish ID card in the UK->Schengen direction.

Nothing has been brought up or even mentioned despite deliberately using the manual passport controls (the chip is broken on my UK passport, but it works on my Polish one) each and every time. I've even tried to set off an overstay by using my Polish ID card to travel to the UK, then using my Polish passport to enter the UK, and then I exited on my British passport. Then, as my next visit to the UK was more than 6 months after the previous one, I used my Polish passport to enter the UK again, and not a word was said.

I can only assume that they've somehow linked all three documents together.

If you want to be sure, you could do a subject access request on UK visas and Immigration, which will include their believed entries and exits to and from the UK.

In my case, they list missed loads of entries - though all exits were recorded

edit: And all entries and exits were with the same passport!

 

[Goldfish62]

If you have to hand the relevant details for the person/people you're travelling with...

I booked on Eurostar recently for myself and three others. I didn't need to complete the API for them - they did it themselves individually.

 

[johncrossley]

I'm not 100% certain because I wasn't part of the conversation, but I'm fairly sure I heard a woman at Brussels being taken aside and told to wait (maybe for a telling off?) at the UK border control for trying to enter the UK using a foreign passport when she was a UK citizen.

Is that not allowed?

 

[Teebs]

Is that not allowed?

No idea, like I said I wasn't 100% certain what happened. A bit of googling suggests it is allowed, but I can't find any official sources, and it's always possible that a border guard just decided to be a dick.

When I travel I always use my EU passport for the EU and UK for the UK. Feels a bit like being a spy, switching passports between the two booths.

 

[johncrossley]

No idea, like I said I wasn't 100% certain what happened. A bit of googling suggests it is allowed, but I can't find any official sources, and it's always possible that a border guard just decided to be a dick.

When I travel I always use my EU passport for the EU and UK for the UK. Feels a bit like being a spy, switching passports between the two booths.

I suppose if you use the EU passport all the time they might think you are an overstayer, but if you can prove you are a UK citizen then what's the problem? Maybe there is no reason to renew the UK passport. You could just carry around an expired one if you ever get questioned by UK border staff.