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All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

cnbc.com

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Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#3
> Anyone arriving at the U.K. border by air or rail without an ETA will be turned away, including if they arrive via Ireland but are not Irish or British citizens.

This is contrary to eg BBC reporting which says that Irish /residents/ departing from Ireland also won’t need an ETA

Edit: which makes sense, because you often arrive as a domestic passenger when arriving from Ireland, with no passport checks (except for a couple of police occasionally, who pick out certain people for some questioning), so who would be checking the ETA?

Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#4
>It is understood the U.K. has ambitions to eventually require all travelers to submit fingerprint biometrics ahead of travel and is working on a scheme that would see this submitted by smartphone.

Wait, can they even do that? Can the government make an app that can beam the fingerprints read from the fingerprint sensor phone back to them? AFAIK the biometric data is stored in the phone's secure enclave and can never leave it (barring any exploits).

Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#5

>It is understood the U.K. has ambitions to eventually require all travelers to submit fingerprint biometrics ahead of travel and is working on a scheme that would see this submitted by smartphone. Wait, can they even do that? Can the government make an app that can beam the fingerprints read from the fingerprint sensor phone back to them? AFAIK the biometric data is stored in the phone's secure enclave and can never…

Technically very easy. Legally? I dunno, maybe?

Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#6

  The cost of the ETA has not been confirmed but it is expected to be in a similar range to those schemes. The U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization costs $21.

  The European Union is set to launch its own digital travel authorization scheme, called ETIAS, for visa-exempt nationals in 2024. It will enable travel within 30 countries.
This isn't a UK thing, I expect most developed countries to adopt such things in the coming decade. The EU one is supposed to be like $7 and be valid for a bunch of years at a time, but these fees are going to add up if you travel all over.

Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#7

>It is understood the U.K. has ambitions to eventually require all travelers to submit fingerprint biometrics ahead of travel and is working on a scheme that would see this submitted by smartphone. Wait, can they even do that? Can the government make an app that can beam the fingerprints read from the fingerprint sensor phone back to them? AFAIK the biometric data is stored in the phone's secure enclave and can never…

I think those ambitions will be downgraded when reality hits.

Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#8

>It is understood the U.K. has ambitions to eventually require all travelers to submit fingerprint biometrics ahead of travel and is working on a scheme that would see this submitted by smartphone. Wait, can they even do that? Can the government make an app that can beam the fingerprints read from the fingerprint sensor phone back to them? AFAIK the biometric data is stored in the phone's secure enclave and can never…

Technically very easy. Legally? I dunno, maybe?

Easy how? AFAIK there's no API to read the biometric data from the secure enclave. The secure enclave will only validate if what the fingerprint sensor reads matches what it has stored internally for authentication.

Re: All travelers to the UK will need pre-authorization by 2025

#10
post #6

The cost of the ETA has not been confirmed but it is expected to be in a similar range to those schemes. The U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization costs $21. The European Union is set to launch its own digital travel authorization scheme, called ETIAS, for visa-exempt nationals in 2024. It will enable travel within 30 countries. This isn't a UK thing, I expect most developed countries to adopt such things i…

>Anyone arriving at the U.K. border by air or rail without an ETA will be turned away, including if they arrive via Ireland but are not Irish or British citizens.

So anything who didn't apply an ETA will now be blocked? I thought they should at least offer an option for something like £100 to get it done at the border.

But that is a lot of inconvenience for travellers.

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