Portugal has announced it will remove Brexit restrictions and treat UK visitors under the same conditions as those from the European Union (EU). The new rules mean that travelers from the United Kingdom will no longer be treated as third-country nationals as required under Brexit. Under EU Brexit legislation, the UK is treated as a third country, but individual states can use their own rules regarding travel.

In 2019, around 2.5 million British nationals visited Portugal.

Portugal is the first to break ranks

Portugal is the first country to abandon the EU Brexit rules of manual checks for UK citizens. Other countries that depend on UK tourists, including Spain and France, may see the benefits and follow Portugal to help get their tourism businesses moving again.

Britons entering Portugal with e-passports will be able to avoid long queues for manual immigration and passport checks by using the e-gate channel.

Portugal's Foreigners and Border Service (SEF) said it had opened four new-generation e-gates at Lisbon Aiport with similar facilities at Faro, Porto and Funchal airports. Nationals from Australia, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand will also be allowed to use the automatic system.

UK travel commentator and CEO of consultancy PC Agency, Paul Charles, said:

"Portugal is leading the way in recognizing that they need to process large numbers of visitors from the UK as seamlessly as possible in order to avoid long queues this summer."

He added that the new rules were a clever way for Portugal to differentiate itself from other countries that are currently not processing in the same way, such as Greece, France and Italy, among others.

More and more airports are adopting biometrics

SEF says that the new e-gates have a faster and more functional operating system. This means passengers' biometric data is read more quickly, and they are on their way sooner. It adds,

"Automatically, and in less than 20 seconds, the system authenticates the travel document and, using a facial recognition system, instantly compares the passenger's face with the photograph registered on the document's chip using a proprietary algorithm and a technological solution for biometrics."

The identification process involves the system searching an international database, and soon after this, the passenger can pass through the e-gate.

French company IDEMIA has biometric solutions installed at more than 260 airports worldwide. Before the pandemic, its automated systems facilitated more than 37 million passengers crossing per year.

With its eyes on post-COVID contactless travel, IDEMIA has a remote solution that travelers can do from home.

Passengers can complete the biometric check-in securely with their smartphone. They need to scan their passport or share their Digital Travel Credential (DTC) and take a live selfie to create a reliable digital traveler identity.

IDEMIA's system can identify travelers on the move, enabling greater throughput and a better passenger experience. Its system is used in the US at more than 400 enrollment locations as part of the TSA PreCheck Program. Once approved for the PreCheck program, travelers have access to special lanes at participating US airports for a quicker and trouble-free screening process.

With the chaotic scenes seen over the Easter travel break in the US and UK, one can only wonder why biometric systems, like those in Portugal, are not used in every airport?

Source: SchengenVisaInfo

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