Families visiting Britain this summer are to be offered fast-track entry to show that the country is “open for business”.
The Registered Traveller Service (RTS), which is available to passport holders from selected non-European Union countries including America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore, allows accelerated entry through ePassport gates or the EU passport lane.
Until this month only adults have been able to take advantage of the scheme, which costs £70 a year and has been predominantly used by business travellers.
Now the Home Office has announced that it will extend the arrangement this month to include children.
Visitors from outside Europe will also no longer have to fill in landing cards under proposals to scrap the paper-based system after nearly 50 years.
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All non-EU passengers will still be checked against watch lists, but it is hoped that scrapping the landing card system will help to cut queues at airports.
“We are modernising border technology to ensure Border Force staff stop dealing with outdated paperwork and can continue to focus on security and protecting the public,” said the immigration minister Brandon Lewis.
“Scrapping landing cards and extending the RTS to the dependants of people who have registered is a very clear message from us that we are open for business and we want people to travel here and have a good experience.
“A huge export for the UK is our tourism industry, so I want people to come through our ports and have a really positive experience.” Lewis said that he also wanted to see waits in queues at Britain’s busiest airports reduced to a matter of seconds as he considers the introduction of more border technology.
“The development of technology and eGates offer us the opportunity to reduce waiting times with the process taking as little as 15 seconds,” he added.
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“Technology is moving so fast that there are huge opportunities to improve security and flexibility at the border as well.”
About 123m people enter the UK every year. That figure is expected to double in 30 years.
Around 95% of all British and EU inbound passengers are expected to pass through passport control within 25 minutes. For non-EU citizens the time is 45 minutes.