UK government plans to tighten border controls, with fully digital system “By the end of 2025”, according to the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel. “Now that we have regained control and ended free movement, security is at the very heart of our immigration strategy”, she said, quoted in a statement, Sunday, May 23. And to add: “Our new all-digital border will allow us to count people inside and outside the country, which will allow us to control who comes to the UK. “
People coming to the UK without a visa or immigration status will therefore need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), modeled on what exists to enter the United States. The Interior Ministry expects “That around 30 million ETA applications are processed each year”, according to the same press release.
“Prevent serious foreign criminals from entering the UK”
Tightening immigration conditions was one of the goals of supporters of the now-achieved Brexit, which ended free movement between the UK and member states of the European Union (EU). This new system will make it possible to carry out automated security checks and upstream of arrivals in order to“Prevent serious foreign criminals from entering the UK”, the minister said.
The ministry also points out that the exact number of immigrants to the UK is poorly estimated, citing as an example data from the Settlement scheme, a scheme that allows EU citizens who lived in the country before December 31 2020 to register to keep the same rights to live, work and access social security in the UK after Brexit.
At the end of April, there had been more than 5.4 million applications and 4.9 million statuses granted, the ministry said, while the number of EU citizens living in the UK was previously estimated at 3 million.
This project is part of a reform of immigration policy, now based on a system “Dotted” favoring people with education to the detriment of low-skilled workers. To obtain a visa, skills, knowledge of English and financial resources are taken into account.
In March, the British government also presented a reform of the asylum system that would no longer grant the same rights to people depending on whether they entered the country legally or illegally.