UK is considering the trial of "smart" passport gates that could allow travellers to cross the border without presenting a physical passport.

Phil Douglas, the director-general of the UK Border Force, aims for a "much more frictionless facial recognition" system, hoping to upgrade the current eGates to enable arriving passengers to enter the UK by simply looking into a camera and keeping their passports in their pockets.

The existing eGates use facial recognition, checking each traveler's face against the data encrypted on the passport. The proposed system would rely on centralised data.

Currently, eGates are accessible to travellers aged 10 or above from the UK, EU, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.

However, the new smart gates would require travellers to be registered on a centralised database.

The phased implementation of the UK's Electronic Travel Authorization Scheme is expected to provide the necessary information for eligible travellers.

Mr Douglas told The Times, “We will know a lot more information about people upfront.”

Other countries are already using advanced facial recognition, with the world’s busiest international airport, Dubai, deploying the technology for some travellers.

Dubai Airports claims: “Smart Gates allow you to get through immigration procedures in as little as five seconds.”Families with children under 15, as well as travellers under 1.2 metres tall, are unable to use the smart gates in Dubai.

Australia employs similar technology at some of its airports.

In the UK, an initial trial for the proposed "smart" passport gates is expected to occur at a single airport, involving a limited number of travelers.

Subsequently, a procurement exercise will follow, and the cost of upgrading the existing eGates, numbering in the hundreds, is anticipated to be in the tens of millions.

However, passengers who experienced the collapse of the entire UK eGates system in May 2023 might approach these proposed enhancements with caution.

The failure of a systems upgrade over the late May bank holiday resulted in tens of thousands of passengers queuing for many hours.