MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK Faster entry available to Chile with the Registered Traveller Service

Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said “UK is open for business and I am excited we are going to be able to share benefits of Registered Traveller with Chile”

Regular visitors to the UK from Chile, as with other founding members of Mercosur, are now eligible to apply to join the UK’s Registered Traveller Service. The Service provides approved members, who have undergone advanced security checks an expedited clearance through the UK border.

 UK Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said “the UK is open for business and I am excited we are going to be able to share in the benefits of Registered Traveller with Chile.

”We know there are tens of thousands of passengers welcomed in the UK from Chile each year and the Registered Traveller Service offers them faster entry when they arrive at our border.

“The scheme is already available to a number of countries across the world and I am very pleased to welcome Chile to the Registered Traveller community”.

To be eligible to apply, passengers must hold an eligible passport, have a visa/entry clearance or have visited the UK at least four times in the past two years.

Registered Traveller allows approved members, who have undergone advanced security checks, faster entry at the UK border through access to the ePassport gates (if they hold an ePassport) or the UK/EU passport lane and do not need to fill in a landing card.

Individuals who meet the eligibility criteria may apply to join the Registered Traveller Service online by providing personal details and passport details. Once background checks have been carried out, if the application is successful, the individual will be sent a provisional acceptance letter.

To validate and confirm their membership, the individual must present themselves on their next arrival in the UK to a Border Force officer where the membership process will be completed with an interview to determine the applicant’s suitability for the service and identity checks are carried out.

The Registered Traveller Service went fully live on 8 April 2015 for applicants aged 18 and over, from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. The service was extended to include applicants from Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region only), Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan on 25 January 2016 and in November 2016 the UK Prime Minister announced the expansion of the service to certain categories of traveller from India. For more information on Registered Traveller go to: https://www.gov.uk/registered-traveller.