The UK government has begun rolling out a new generation of contactless eGates that let eligible passengers clear the border without placing their passport on the reader, and Heathrow is on the list of airports due to get the technology.
The rollout started on Tuesday 6 October at East Midlands Airport, which became the first UK airport to switch on the system, the Home Office and East Midlands Airport confirmed. Border Force says contactless eGates will follow at 12 more airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff, London City, Luton, Newcastle and Stansted, with every eGate in the country expected to be upgraded by early 2027. No date has yet been confirmed for when Heathrow's gates switch over.
Under the new system, a camera captures a live photo of the traveller as they approach the gate, and that image is checked against their passport, visa and travel records. If the checks pass, the gate opens automatically and the passenger walks through without scanning their passport page. All existing immigration and security checks continue to run in the background, and passengers must still carry a valid passport with them at all times.
The Home Office says the technology is initially limited to British citizens, with other nationalities who are already eligible for eGates expected to gain access later. Anyone who cannot use the contactless option, or whose checks flag an issue, will be asked to place their passport on the reader as normal or will be directed to a Border Force officer.
Phil Douglas, Director General of Border Force, said the change was "a win for travellers" and that internal testing showed the contactless process is up to 25% faster than the current passport-on-reader method. For a hub as busy as Heathrow, which handled a record number of passengers over the summer, shaving even a few seconds off each border check adds up quickly across its four terminals.
Travellers arriving at Heathrow in the coming months should expect to see the new gates appear gradually rather than all at once, and should keep their passport to hand regardless, since officers will still ask for it if a contactless check cannot be completed.
What this means for your journey: faster border clearance should eventually mean less time spent in the arrivals hall, so it is worth having your onward transport sorted in advance. See our guide to Heathrow's public transport options at /public-transport/ to plan the next leg of your trip.