UK Registered traveller service - Express immigration trial

[Mal]

The UK has been trialling a Registered Traveller scheme for quite a few months now. It has now moved into additional trials and the public can now sign up if you have an invitation code.

https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller

Service costs £50/year, (first year is non-refundable if you are rejected)

At Heathrow and Gatwick passport control, you’ll be able to:

use the ePassport gates (if you have a biometric passport)
use the UK/EU channel (Heathrow) or the Registered Traveller lane (Gatwick)

You won’t need to fill in a landing card or undergo a credibility interview on each arrival.

There are conditions, these include:

Open open to Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, United States, Japanese nationals w/corresponding passport.
You need to either be a ‘visitor’ (business visitor, tourist, sports visitor, entertainer visitor, person seeking leave to enter as the parent of a child at school in the UK) or hold Indefinite Leave to Remain(ILR), Tier 1 (Investor, Entrepreneur and Exceptional Talent/ Promise) or Tier 2 leave
You have entered/visited the UK at least 4 times within the last 12 months
Usually travel via Heathrow or Gatwick airports (the scheme is currently only valid at these airports).
Be over 18.

At the moment if you want to register, you need a registration code. At the moment, these are being handed out by certain organisations. Places where codes/brochures are known to be found are:
- Certain airlines (they may reserve them for elites)
- At T5 LHR, at the First Lounge, there are brochures on the information counter.
- At T5 LHR, there are brochures at immigration

 

[RooFlyer]

Wow. Such a welcoming lot. You pay ~$100 AND have to be a past regular visitor (never mind if you intend to go monthly in 2015).

Anyway, one positive is that I'll be able to write to the Minister for Immigration & also the Treasurer and suggest Australia charge $100 for each non Aust/NZ 'e-passport' user intending to enter Australia (but waive the past entry requirement), with support.

Edit: Thanks for the post, Mal

 

[Kefci2000]

The UK has been trialling a Registered Traveller scheme for quite a few months now. It has now moved into additional trials and the public can now sign up if you have an invitation code.

https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller

Service costs £50/year, (first year is non-refundable if you are rejected)



There are conditions, these include:

Open open to Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, United States, Japanese nationals w/corresponding passport.
You need to either be a ‘visitor’ (business visitor, tourist, sports visitor, entertainer visitor, person seeking leave to enter as the parent of a child at school in the UK) or hold Indefinite Leave to Remain(ILR), Tier 1 (Investor, Entrepreneur and Exceptional Talent/ Promise) or Tier 2 leave
You have entered/visited the UK at least 4 times within the last 12 months
Usually travel via Heathrow or Gatwick airports (the scheme is currently only valid at these airports).
Be over 18.

At the moment if you want to register, you need a registration code. At the moment, these are being handed out by certain organisations. Places where codes/brochures are known to be found are:
- Certain airlines (they may reserve them for elites)
- At T5 LHR, at the First Lounge, there are brochures on the information counter.
- At T5 LHR, there are brochures at immigration

is is there any other way to get a registration code?

 

[Mal]

Yes, ask me (I head through Heathrow frequently enough to be able to tap into the supply. Next trip is likely this weekend coming so will grab some codes then. Already have supplied around 6 to flyertalk members so far

 

[Kefci2000]

Yes, ask me (I head through Heathrow frequently enough to be able to tap into the supply. Next trip is likely this weekend coming so will grab some codes then. Already have supplied around 6 to flyertalk members so far

Thanks Mal, PM sent

 

[pagingjoan]

Hi Mal,
Your In Box is overflowing.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Anyway, one positive is that I'll be able to write to the Minister for Immigration & also the Treasurer and suggest Australia charge $100 for each non Aust/NZ 'e-passport' user intending to enter Australia (but waive the past entry requirement), with support.

I'd support that! One of the UK benefits is no longer having to fill out a landing card... I'd happily pay $100 to not have to fill out a landing form every time I enter australia!

 

[Mal]

They've also now added an option to waitlist online for a code : https://www.registered-traveller.homeoffice.gov.uk/customer/invitationCode/waitingList

No idea how long that would take to be fulfilled. As always, I am able (pamphlet stock / travel permitting ) to get physical brochures as well.

 

[pagingjoan]

They've also now added an option to waitlist online for a code : https://www.registered-traveller.homeoffice.gov.uk/customer/invitationCode/waitingList

No idea how long that would take to be fulfilled. As always, I am able (pamphlet stock / travel permitting ) to get physical brochures as well.

Great timing for your post, Mal.
Thought you might be amused by my experience just now.

Landed at LHR T5, transferred to T3, keeping eyes peeled for the unlikely sight of the pamphlets in the transit stream.
Nothing sighted, not unexpectedly.

Arrived at the BA Lounge and enquired about the pamphlets here.
Total mystification, on the part of the BA Customer Service rep in the F Lounge.

To his credit, he did offer to check with his colleagues.
And he did find me soon after to report that nobody had ever heard of the program.

So there.

What would we do without AFF?

I would greatly appreciate a code, if you can pick one up on your next LHR adventure, Mal. (Need only one, not the two we discussed earlier, as I realised that +1 has a "spare" UK passport, which I think would negate the need for the Registered Traveller benefits?)

 

[pagingjoan]

The story so far.....
(Read above posts)

And now an update.

When the QF First Host appeared in the Lounge closer to departure time, I asked her the same question as I had tried with the BA staff. A similar initial response. No knowledge at all of the new program.

The marked difference was in the follow up. The QF person took up my suggestion that the pamphlets were available in the T5 Lounge and volunteered to check with them. She then found me to report back that they did have some there but could not get them over to T3 in time for us. I reminded her that the code was the critical element and she agreed to see if the T5 people could provide a code without the pamphlet. No dice on that, apparently, but she then contacted Immigration, located a pamphlet and told me that she would go to Immigration to collect it and would meet me at the departure gate to hand it over. (It was close to boarding time by then.)

We waited until almost the last to board but she had not reappeared. However, when I explained the situation to the staff member checking BPs, he then found the CSM, who confirmed that L (the Lounge host) was on her way and would bring the document to me on the plane.

Which she did! Very impressive service! I have given feedback already, with compliments to the staff member for going so far out of her way to be helpful.

Unlike Mal, I can't offer the code to other AFFers, as there was only one pamphlet. But I give full kudos to L and to QF for this exceptional service.

And, between us all, we are spreading the word. Maybe the locals will know about the service the next time an AFFer asks for the documentation?

 

[Mal]

If anyone can't get a code from the service I indicated above [edit: https://www.faster-uk-entry.service.gov.uk/invitationCode/waitingList ] (and based on experiences of others and me, it should be within 24 hours, maybe 48 ), I have another 7 codes to share. While there were none in the F lounge, there were three large display stands at t5 today. One in the fast track queue, one next to the regular international queue and one just after passing immigration. Each had around 200 brochures on them.

I suspect the scheme is getting very close to proper release and codes won't be required soon.

 

[burmans]

If anyone can't get a code from the service I indicated above (and based on experiences of others and me, it should be within 24 hours, maybe 48), I have another 7 codes to share. While there were none in the F lounge, there were three large display stands at t5 today. One in the fast track queue, one next to the regular international queue and one just after passing immigration. Each had around 200 brochures on them.

I suspect the scheme is getting very close to proper release and codes won't be required soon.

Would love a code, the link failed for me!

 

[Mal]

Would love a code, the link failed for me!

Sorry. looks like link has been changed.

https://www.faster-uk-entry.service.gov.uk/invitationCode/waitingList (48 hours starts from now

 

[Mal]

Not that it should be required, seeing they seem to be issuing codes quickly via email, I do have around 12 codes in my possession.

 

[Mal]

Scheme has moved out of trial, and is in production now. Major points to note.

1. More visa types have been added, and if you are on a visa, then you generally don't require the 4 entries to qualify (tourists still need 4 entries in the last year)
2. Now £20 application fee (non-refundable), £50 per year.
3. No more invitation codes are required.

I now have preliminary approval, and just need to finalise my application next time I enter the UK.

 

[pagingjoan]

Scheme has moved out of trial, and is in production now. Major points to note.

1. More visa types have been added, and if you are on a visa, then you generally don't require the 4 entries to qualify (tourists still need 4 entries in the last year)
2. Now £20 application fee (non-refundable), £50 per year.
3. No more invitation codes are required.

I now have preliminary approval, and just need to finalise my application next time I enter the UK.

An update on my saga, reported earlier:
I am now the proud (well, ....) possessor of the handy little blue card!

Have had four LHR transits in recent weeks but you need to be entering the UK to complete the registration process, so it took until this evening to join the dots.

A totally disengaged Border Force officer, who had to wander off to another unattended desk to locate some cards but sorted it out without fuss, even though he was a bit bemused that I was staying in the UK for only a few hours.

Haven't had had a chance to try it out yet but it will be great to have the option of the SmartGate-style entry, or even the EU lines, without the need for Entry card or questioning.

Grateful thanks, Mal, for the tip. Brilliant. I have seen no promotion elsewhere.

 

[Mal]

An update on my saga, reported earlier:
I am now the proud (well, ....) possessor of the handy little blue card!

Welcome to the club. I love my little blue card and what it does for me. Immigration has become simple, the stupid rotation of questions have stopped (How are you eligible for your visa / Are you working / What are your plans after your visa ends ) and I'm no longer fingerprinted on every entry. And I'm now getting one less stamp per trip away to boot

Have used the card 4 times now. All were via the automated gates, but one entry failed and I was referred to an officer. No pain involved!

 

[pagingjoan]

Welcome to the club. I love my little blue card and what it does for me. Immigration has become simple, the stupid rotation of questions have stopped (How are you eligible for your visa / Are you working / What are your plans after your visa ends ) and I'm no longer fingerprinted on every entry. And I'm now getting one less stamp per trip away to boot

Have used the card 4 times now. All were via the automated gates, but one entry failed and I was referred to an officer. No pain involved!

That must make life so much simpler, Mal.

I must admit that the questions have never been an issue for me. Sometimes, there's a brief chat about the cricket, or an exhibition that we might be heading for on a short transit stop - and I've never been fingerprinted in the UK. Is that because you are on a Working Visa?

However, those LHR queues can sometimes be hideously long and slow, and, depending on where we are coming from, I don't always have an Express card, so this should remove much of that pain.

Anything that cuts down queueing time, anywhere in the world is priceless.
I owe you a drink or three, when our paths cross.

 

[Mal]

Most visas require fingerprints for the UK now. So I avoid that and a lot of fuss.
Usually I have fast track immigration (only around 5pc of my flights aren't eligible for fast track, but that's so indeterminate.

Anyway, it's a great scheme, not as nice as Iris was, but still well worth the £50/year for me.

 

[amaroo]

Got the email from BA overnight...

We wanted to make you aware that, as a national of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand or the USA, the recently updated Registered Traveller Service https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller offered by the UK Border Force could give you an easier and faster arrivals experience.

As a member of Registered Traveller, you could speed up your UK arrivals process. You will no longer need to complete a landing card and, better still, you will be able to use the UK/EU lanes and the UK ePassport gates with your biometric passport (where available). Later this year, 15 of the newest generation gates will be added at London Heathrow Terminal 5.

Becoming a Registered Traveller is easier than ever before. You can apply online at https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller . It costs £70 to apply to use the service for one year. If your application is unsuccessful, you'll get £50 back.

Currently the service is available at Heathrow, London Gatwick, London City, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester, and will be rolling out to more UK airports during 2015.

We look forward to welcoming you on board your flight to the UK.