Special lanes for foreign students to cut queues at Manchester Airport passport control

Border Force bosses have introduced new lanes for foreign students in a bid to tackle queues at Manchester Airport.

Between July 1 and August 31, 50,000 non-European Economic Area students passed through the airport.

Because they often have to be questioned more thoroughly by border control, their arrivals can be time-consuming.

And this week, passengers at Manchester Airport have been taking to Twitter this week to bemoan the queues.

Neil Brewitt, @0100, said: “It’s just embarrassing. Why don’t I queue like this at any other airport?”

While dannyingli, @dannyinglis, added: “Manchester Airport Passport Control excels itself with 150 metre queue. Brilliant.”

But Border Force has insisted it is doing its best to tackle the queues - and that student lanes should help improve the situation.

Aimed at foreign students from outside the UK, it means they can be segregated from the main queue to be grilled separately, therefore avoiding further hold-ups for other passengers.

Student lanes direct students to dedicated areas where Border Force officers can check their documents and question them to ensure they are here for legitimate study purposes.

Manchester is a major hub for incoming students - not only for the Manchester universities but for others such as Bangor in north Wales.

A Home Office spokesman said: “This is an extremely busy time of year at our airports with a large number of foreign students arriving alongside thousands of returning holidaymakers.

"We will not compromise border security, however, and passengers must go through our strict passport controls.

“Border Force always aims to keep disruption to a minimum and we have introduced student lanes in Manchester to help passengers pass through the border as quickly as possible.

“Despite these pressures, more than 98 per cent of passengers at Manchester Airport were dealt with within our target times last month and queue performance continues to exceed the standards agreed with the airport operator.”

He said Border Force works closely with universities around the arrival of non-EEA students so their arrival at UK airports is managed as quickly as possible.

Targets agreed with airport operators for arriving passengers is 25 minutes for European Union/EEA passengers and 45 minutes for non-EU/EAA passengers.

Border Force bosses have introduced new lanes for foreign students in a bid to tackle queues at Manchester Airport.

Between July 1 and August 31, 50,000 non-European Economic Area students passed through the airport.

Because they often have to be questioned more thoroughly by border control, their arrivals can be time-consuming.

And this week, passengers at Manchester Airport have been taking to Twitter this week to bemoan the queues.

Neil Brewitt, @0100, said: “It’s just embarrassing. Why don’t I queue like this at any other airport?”

While dannyingli, @dannyinglis, added: “Manchester Airport Passport Control excels itself with 150 metre queue. Brilliant.”

But Border Force has insisted it is doing its best to tackle the queues - and that student lanes should help improve the situation.

Aimed at foreign students from outside the UK, it means they can be segregated from the main queue to be grilled separately, therefore avoiding further hold-ups for other passengers.

Student lanes direct students to dedicated areas where Border Force officers can check their documents and question them to ensure they are here for legitimate study purposes.

Manchester is a major hub for incoming students - not only for the Manchester universities but for others such as Bangor in north Wales.

A Home Office spokesman said: “This is an extremely busy time of year at our airports with a large number of foreign students arriving alongside thousands of returning holidaymakers.

"We will not compromise border security, however, and passengers must go through our strict passport controls.

“Border Force always aims to keep disruption to a minimum and we have introduced student lanes in Manchester to help passengers pass through the border as quickly as possible.

“Despite these pressures, more than 98 per cent of passengers at Manchester Airport were dealt with within our target times last month and queue performance continues to exceed the standards agreed with the airport operator.”

He said Border Force works closely with universities around the arrival of non-EEA students so their arrival at UK airports is managed as quickly as possible.

Targets agreed with airport operators for arriving passengers is 25 minutes for European Union/EEA passengers and 45 minutes for non-EU/EAA passengers.

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