Originally Posted by
Schultzois
Having noticed this thread from time to time, I was indeed under the impression that IRIS is coming to an end. Somewhat to my surprise, however, my other half enroled in IRIS on his own at LHR T5 in the first week of this month... received the letter on the spot, and apparently already used it earlier this week in order to enter the UK for about 20 minutes on a connection NCE-LHR-GRU (having forgotten his glasses at a hotel in London, he had them sent by messenger to LHR during his connection).
All this was quite a bit more resourceful (particularly the IRIS matter) than he usually is when it comes to travel-related things. If they are indeed shutting it down, why keep accepting new applications (and issuing new letters for two year validity periods)?
Originally Posted by
T8191
Thanks to help earlier on this thread, the OH and I successfully enrolled for IRIS when outbound on 27 April ... and have Registration Reports to prove it!
On returning through T5 on 18 May, I passed through the IRIS booth with no difficulty ... but the OH's attempt failed completely. The e-passport booth did, however, work for her.
So ... 50% success, but at least I now have 3 ways of getting back into UK, and she has 2 options
I checked the Uk Immigration web pages also and there is no mention of suspension of the programme and it still invites eligible passengers to enroll. As noted above it does state that one the LGW and LHR T3 enrollment offices will be closed until further notice. I assumed the T3 one had closed because of all the building work going on in that area.
Next time I wander on past the T5 enrollment office I might ask the question about the service and how much longer it will be a viable option for those of us who aren't EU citizens.