5th Annual International Public Sector
Reform Symposium: New Models of
Service Delivery for the 21st Century
Ian Neill, e-Borders programme, UKBA
Wednesday 14th December 2011
The Use of Technology to Improve the
Passenger Experience
Transforming the Border – Automation
IRIS: available in 10 terminals
across 4 UK airports
e-Passport Gates: available at 10 UK
airport terminals
Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS)
 Launched in 2006.
 A quick, convenient and secure way to clear immigration.
 IRIS gates use iris recognition technology and require pre-registration to read
passengers’ iris patterns and verify their identity before allowing them entry to
the UK.

They are available at Heathrow Terminals 1, 3, 4 and 5, Gatwick North,
Manchester Terminals 1,2 and 3 and Birmingham Terminal 1.
 Available to British Citizens, EEA nationals, visa nationals, non-visa nationals
and those with permanent residence in the UK.
e-Passport Gates
 Currently have 63 e-Gates in operation. They are located at Heathrow,
Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Birmingham, East Midlands, Cardiff, Bristol and
Manchester.
 The system can currently be used by any British or EEA citizen aged 18
years and over who has an ePassport with an electronic chip.
 It works by using facial recognition technology to compare the faces of UK
and EEA passengers to images held in their biometric ePassports in addition
to other security checks.
 Anyone rejected will be referred to UK Border Agency officers monitoring the
gates.
 500,000 crossings per month
Resource to Risk
Passenger
journeys per
year through
the UK by air,
sea and rail,
400 to 600
million
200 million
2007
300 million
2015
 We are using new technology to facilitate a passengers’
2030
journey whilst
managing passenger volumes effectively
 Cross border passenger movement by air alone is forecast to increase from
under 200m people in 2007 to 375m in 2030
 We need to create an integrated and secure border for the 21st Century, using
new technology to manage more people, more quickly and more securely
through our borders
e-Borders Solution
A) Visa issue overseas
• Watchlist checks on visa applicants
•e-Borders travel history to assist visa decisions
B) Departure from overseas
•Carriers submit details to e-Borders
•Passengers subject to watchlist checks prior to their arrival in the
UK
C) Arrival at the UK border
•New systems will enable Border Agency Officers to:
•Biometrically verify identity of arriving passengers
•Intervene in response to alerts
•D) Leaving the UK
•Carriers will send details of passengers
•Border Agency Officers will establish targeted embarkation checks
in response to risk assessment against this data
National Border Targeting Centre
The NBTC is a vital enabler to realising
the e-Borders benefits:
State of the art operations centre with
access to multiple agency systems.
Officially opened in March 2010.
Improved processes and ways of
working.
Improved collaboration across Agencies
– UKBA, Police and SOCA forming multiagency teams and working together to
create a more secure border through
closer and more integrated working
Data collected
TRAVEL DOCUMENT INFORMATION
 biographical identity information from the travel document
(Name, D.O.B. Nationality, Gender, document number, document type,
expiry date, and issuing state)
 all routes in/out on all modes of transport
 watchlists
 travel history
PASSENGER NAME RECORD
 rules based targeting - known behaviour patterns
 will collect on a risk basis
travellers may be previously unknown to agencies
identify potential offenders from trends and patterns of behaviour
Data safeguards
 Less than 1% of UKBA staff have direct access to the e-Borders
system.
 All users must have a high level of security clearance
 Strong safeguards are in place to protect personal data collected and
ensure openness and transparency
 Data is held in a secure database in a secure location, and
accessed only by security cleared operatives
 Held on the e-Borders system for five years in an active database,
with provision for access on a case by case basis for a further five
years
Successes
390m passenger movements analysed
 Over 10,100 arrests, including 64 murderers
1630 adverse immigration history/RLEs
27 facilitators identified
241 lost/stolen passports impounded
8.7m cigarettes seized
 646kg drugs seized