UK Registered traveller service - Express immigration trial

[qkslvr]

My fiance and I are living in London, I have a British passport but she has Aussie. We saw this advertised on a TV screen as we were being herded through the non-EU line (I keep her company). She applied online, and approval only took a week. On our next return into Gatwick she received her personalised 'Registered Traveller' card. We will be testing it out in a couple of weeks, e-passport gates here we come!

 

[Mal]

My Australian PA series passport has stopped working on the egates. Appears to be related to the release of their new version of the gates, and the same failure occurs at both Gatwick and Heathrow.

Has anyone else used a PA series passport at LHR T5 or LGW North in the last couple of months?

 

[Chalkie]

Has anyone else noticed that one of the eligibility criteria for the UK Registered Traveller programme has changed? When I was first informed about this, it was 4 UK entries in the past 12 months. It now appears to have changed to 4 entries in the past 24 months.

Does anyone know what are the renewal criteria for UK Registered Traveller?

 

[Kefci2000]

Has anyone else noticed that one of the eligibility criteria for the UK Registered Traveller programme has changed? When I was first informed about this, it was 4 UK entries in the past 12 months. It now appears to have changed to 4 entries in the past 24 months.

Does anyone know what are the renewal criteria for UK Registered Traveller?

Just wondering if GBP50/70 is worth it for a couple of entries a year?

Fast track seems to work reasonably well at LHR

I assume entry/exit/entry counts as 2 entries on the one trip (eg Land LHR go to EDI, then fly EDI-xLHR-CPH and back to LHR)

 

[Mal]

Has anyone else noticed that one of the eligibility criteria for the UK Registered Traveller programme has changed? When I was first informed about this, it was 4 UK entries in the past 12 months. It now appears to have changed to 4 entries in the past 24 months.

Does anyone know what are the renewal criteria for UK Registered Traveller?

I don't think there are any. Not mentioned during my renewal earlier this year and nothing showing online.

 

[Mal]

Just wondering if GBP50/70 is worth it for a couple of entries a year?

Fast track seems to work reasonably well at LHR

I assume entry/exit/entry counts as 2 entries on the one trip (eg Land LHR go to EDI, then fly EDI-xLHR-CPH and back to LHR)

Main benefit for me is e gates and eu queues at train stations etc. No landing card is also great.


Example above would be 2 entries, yes.

 

[lathiat]

Main benefit for me is e gates and eu queues at train stations etc. No landing card is also great.


Example above would be 2 entries, yes.

Genius idea...

 

[Chalkie]

Just to update. I completed my registered traveller process on my last LHR entry. The officer asked to see a copy of my email. Luckily I had it on my laptop. I couldn't find anywhere in the docs saying that they wanted to see the email. Anyways, all sorted and next time I enter I can use the electronic gates.

 

[Chalkie]

I've used the electronic gates at LHR T3 and T5 a couple of times now using the registered traveller service. Very speedy - no delays in getting through and it's worked without a hiccough each time. I'm very happy with this service.

 

[pagingjoan]

Yes, Chalkie, that's my experience, too.
Not quite so happy with the fee/"tax", which is a bit steep unless you are a frequent business visitor, I suppose. But the time saving benefit and the convenience factor are great.

 

[Kefci2000]

Yes a bit hard to justify? GBP80 per year is it? I only have 2 entries per year. If it was GBP80 for 2-3 years then maybe

 

[Pleb Status]

Yes a bit hard to justify? GBP80 per year is it? I only have 2 entries per year. If it was GBP80 for 2-3 years then maybe

It is very hard to justify the cost when UK citizens get to use our Smartgates for free!

 

[ermen]

Its just a stupid money grab.
In fact, they should be encouraging people to use the smart gates as it substantially saves on manpower costs.
so it has no logic. but who cares - let us just continue to clog up the physical booths then.

 

[Kefci2000]

Everyone acknowledges that there is a cost to process these fast track requests. Even APEC cost $200 to process the additional security checks to allow the access ( admittedly 5 years) but at least try to keep it to the cost of implementing the program.

My company would spend around $30 mil pa in management fees to U.K. based companies and substantially more in USA. You would think they would want to encourage these visitors rather than make them pay for easy entry.

Thankfully my company agreed to pay for my APEC card so at least USA and Asia are far less painful to visit.