UK airport eGates are being upgraded so that arriving passengers no longer have to place a passport on the reader. The Home Office and Border Force announced the change on 6 October 2026. The gates compare a live image of the traveller’s face with their verified identity details, and a passport reader or a border officer remains the fallback.
The rollout is phased. It started with a small number of gates at East Midlands, initially for British citizens, and the Home Office says every eGate is due to be upgraded by early 2027. A Border Force factsheet updated on 20 October shows contactless gates at East Midlands and Birmingham, with Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted still to come. No airport-by-airport dates have been given.
eGates at a UK airport. Home Office stock photograph.
For families, the child rules are the part that matters. The eGate age limit has not changed with the contactless upgrade. Children must be at least 8 years old and at least 120cm tall to use an eGate, and those aged 8 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult. Each person uses a gate on their own, so children don’t go through alongside a parent. Younger or shorter children still go through the staffed desks, and a family with a mix of ages may end up split between the two routes.
The Home Office says contactless gates were up to 25% faster in testing, but that is a test result rather than a promise of shorter queues. Passengers must still carry a valid physical passport, including one for each child, and anyone referred for further checks still goes to an officer.
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