Children Aged 8 Can Now Use UK E-Gates

Children aged eight and nine can now use electronic passport gates (e-gates) when returning to the UK, following a rule change announced by the Home Office ahead of the summer holiday season.

The update lowers the minimum eligible age from 10 to eight, allowing many more families to pass through border control more quickly. Children must be at least 120cm (3ft 11in) tall and travel with an accompanying adult to use the facial recognition gates.

E-gates verify a traveller’s identity by matching their face to the photograph stored in their passport, offering a faster alternative to manual passport inspections.

The government estimates that up to 1.5 million additional children will now be eligible to use the system. The change comes as schools across the UK begin their summer break, a period when airports typically experience a significant increase in passenger numbers.

The new rules apply at all 13 UK airports equipped with e-gates, as well as at UK border control facilities in Brussels and Paris, where immigration checks are carried out before passengers travel to Britain.

Border Security Minister Alex Norris said the change would make returning home from holidays “easier for families with small children” while helping to reduce waiting times at border control.

The UK’s nearly 300 e-gates are available to British citizens and eligible travellers from the European Union, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States. Members of the Registered Traveller Service can also use the automated gates