Registered Traveller Scheme - easier entry for regular visitors to the UK
 

With hat tips to Microwave and rwoman, I think this had better have its own thread since after several weeks of interesting announcements, this is perhaps the most significant.

Current text of the UK Border Agency website:

Registered traveller scheme
The registered traveller scheme launches 24 September 2013 and will improve the way regular visitors can pass through the UK border. It will initially be available at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Passengers can apply for the scheme if they:

• previously registered to use IRIS; and
• are from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia or New Zealand; and
• have completed at least 4 trips to the UK in the last 52 weeks; and
• are a short term visitor to the UK aged over 18.

Eligible travellers will be able to apply and register online. More information will be available from 24 September on this webpage.

Current URL is:
Registered Traveller Scheme

And many thanks for the budget cuts in the USA, which indirectly pushed this scheme on to the civil service fast track!

EDIT 17/9/13: The quoted URL has been revised since this item was originally posted. It originally had an "or" after "52 weeks;" and it now says "and". See posts below for more context.

EDIT 22/9/13: As indicated in posts below, there have been further changes to the wording, with extra "and"s added. The current wording suggests, therefore, only IRIS registered travellers from a very limited number of countries can use the scheme, which I personally very much doubt. Let's see what happens on 24 September.....

EDIT 24/9/13: See post 73 for registration details.

Worse for everyone, at least initially.

As you need to be a member of IRIS to sign up for this, it means a lot of people are excluded (haven't the IRIS enrollment centres been closed for quite a while?)

It's no good for UK travellers or any of those that aren't from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia or New Zealand.

Even those that do qualify will have to go through new enrollment and suffer the teething troubles of the new system.

Couldn't they have run this alongside IRIS for a while?

*grumble* What about British Citizens? *grumble*

My interpretation of the semi colons and final Or statement means that it's either / or all the way down. That's usually how it works, at least. I understand that UK citizens cannot use this, since they have access to e-passports (which is fast everywhere but T5, but apparently some more gates are on their way).

UK citizens currently registered for IRIS and those who have completed 4 entries to the UK in the last 12 months (also an IRIS stipulation) seem to meet the test.

Anyone else should not be registered for a frequent traveller scheme anyway.

I read all the statements as "ands" meaning you have to meet all four tests to be eligible?

Edited to add, except for the final one which is an "or"

So you read it as A and B and C, or otherwise just D, or you don't qualify? I read them as distinct, but either I suppose could be correct (knowing who wrote the content)... Generally if there's a list with "or" between the final two options, doesn't that imply that they are all or?

I know what the political intent is/was, what the civil service and Border Agency comes up with may be different:

- for regular business visitors
- for low risk travellers
- for very frequent visitors to the UK.

This came from a briefing from the PM's office in May 2012 (old news). Global Entry also required the UK to offer reciprocal treatment. The original name of this was "trusted traveller scheme".

So make of that what you will, I don't know much more than this.

UK Government and Service writing convention is that a : introduces a list, items within which are separated by ; and the final item is preceded by a qualifier (and/or).

So it's any one of the 4 bulleted circumstances.

If you visit the UKBA site it says this:

Alternatives to IRIS

Alternatives are available to IRIS users who:
- possess an EEA or UK biometric passport, via self service e-passport gates located at all terminals where IRIS was used;
- are non EU Travellers and eligible to use the registered traveller scheme.

Thus the UKBA are absolutely clear that the Registered Travellers Scheme is only applicable to non-EU travellers.

So well said Dave_C "what about British citizens?" Well, you (and me) get to pay the taxes for the system, but only get to use the e-passport gates along with everyone else on their way back from two weeks in Marbella.

Thanks very much, yet another ill-thought through government initiative:mad:

Edited to add: Also very poorly worded. If "or" is meant to apply between each phrase then the registered traveller scheme is open to all former IRIS users and the entire population of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, any one who has been in and out of the UK at least four times in a year and anyone on a short stay such as a holiday. To put it another way, everyone except those who are actually resident in the UK for any length of time (unless they are a former IRIS user, frequent traveller or citizen of a preferred foreign country). Really? Seems unique to me.

IRIS was only avaialble technically to those who retuend to the country 4 times or more per year even as UK citizens. This is no different to the IRIS requirement.

Okay, well even if the OR only applies to the last two criteria, as an IRIS registered Australian settled in the UK I might have some hope.

This is good, because the I can't use the ePassport gates.

http://www.internationallawoffice.co...b-b9ac53181922

Just sounds like a way of filtering "pre-approved" or "fast to process" passengers who are not UK/EU nationals in to the existing fast track queue (many of whom will already have access to it).

Strange that it doesn't mention people with GE being eligible.

That's probably the next phase, as that'd involve linking up with the GE database to see who's eligible. At the moment it just seems standalone, not connected to similar worldwide schemes.