Practical Travel Safety Issues - Europe Starting to Adopt Automated Border Gates for EU/EEA Passengers

A number of European countries are introducing automated border gates which replace passport control officers (currently the automated gates are somewhat experimental and co-exist with the regular passport control officers) with biometric gates that compare the passengers face with the photo embedded on the passport chip.

This differs from the US Global Entry/Nexus system in that no pre-registration is necessary, all EU/EEA nationals are automatically eligible. Also, Global Entry uses fingerprints, the European ones do not.

I doubt this will ever come to the US as US passport control officers routinely harass their own returning citizens with questions which EU/EEA countries do not.

Examples of the systems in Europe:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/customs-travel/Enteringtheuk/e-passport-gates/

http://bit.ly/JwTicR

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2012/03/tallinn-airport-to-introduce-automated-border-processing/

http://www.government.nl/news/2012/03/27/trial-with-automated-border-control-system-at-schiphol-airport.html

Will it ever make it to Canada at all? So that Canadians are not harrassed by CBSA about their trips abroad?

Sounds good to me. I like it lots. I think it's so much easy for me. I don't have go to passport control desks anymore. I can scan my US Passport and what about fingerprinted or taking a picture?

Sounds good to me. I like it lots. I think it's so much easy for me. I don't have go to passport control desks anymore. I can scan my US Passport and what about fingerprinted or taking a picture?

This doesn't work with US passports.

A number of European countries are introducing automated border gates which replace passport control officers (currently the automated gates are somewhat experimental and co-exist with the regular passport control officers) with biometric gates that compare the passengers face with the photo embedded on the passport chip.

This differs from the US Global Entry/Nexus system in that no pre-registration is necessary, all EU/EEA nationals are automatically eligible. Also, Global Entry uses fingerprints, the European ones do not.

I doubt this will ever come to the US as US passport control officers routinely harass their own returning citizens with questions which EU/EEA countries do not.

Examples of the systems in Europe:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/customs-travel/Enteringtheuk/e-passport-gates/

http://bit.ly/JwTicR

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2012/03/tallinn-airport-to-introduce-automated-border-processing/

http://www.government.nl/news/2012/03/27/trial-with-automated-border-control-system-at-schiphol-airport.html

Aren't the border control employees going to go ballistic over this and engage in some sort of industrial action that hassles passengers before the border control employees are made redundant? Either way, I look forward to automating away the jobs of most border control employees, more so in the US than most places given how much DHS also hassles US citizens.

Aren't the border control employees going to go ballistic over this and engage in some sort of industrial action that hassles passengers before the border control employees are made redundant? Either way, I look forward to automating away the jobs of most border control employees, more so in the US than most places given how much DHS also hassles US citizens.

I am pretty sure most people who decide to work for the police dream of CSI before joining... When they're affected to a border post checking passport all day, I am quite sure it's a let down for them. The perspective of being put back to more interesting thing is certainly welcome -- there is no shortage of work to do in law enforcement.

I have actually worked at place quite related to border control. One of the cops was in charge of monitoring databases, and making sure a computer needed for sharing information about stolen cars across border was operational. He was quite unhappy, because he had asked this assignment thinking he'd actually do something more directly related to arresting criminal using stolen car than checking if a computer was working correctly and calling for help if it wasn't.

I guess the same apply to many border control cops. I can't see them dreaming of swiping passports all day as a career choice... Or harassing anyone either :) I don't know how it is in the US, but I've never been asked any question getting back to the EU with an EU passport.

Well, doing passport control on the EU/EEA line must be the lamest of jobs, kind of like collecting tolls on a bridge. In the EU/EEA, unlike the US, the passport control officers do not ask questions of EU/EEA nationals.

I would think the border officers would be happy so long as no one loses their job. I suppose the border agency could let the number of officers decrease through attrition, or increase the number of officers on the non-EU-EEA channels to either decrease the size of the lines or spend more time scrutinizing people without EU/EEA passports.



Aren't the border control employees going to go ballistic over this and engage in some sort of industrial action that hassles passengers before the border control employees are made redundant? Either way, I look forward to automating away the jobs of most border control employees, more so in the US than most places given how much DHS also hassles US citizens.

I would think the border officers would be happy so long as no one loses their job. I suppose the border agency could let the number of officers decrease through attrition, or increase the number of officers on the non-EU-EEA channels to either decrease the size of the lines or spend more time scrutinizing people without EU/EEA passports.

In countries where policemen are in charge of border control, they could simply be affected to other police tasks. I don't think there is currently a country in Europe, even the safest one, where they say : we have too little crime to warrant having so many policemen.