Britain Re-introduces Exit Checks at the Airports

In a move to keep track of people going out of the UK, the government has re-introduced exit checks at all airports in the country. The amendment in the Immigration Act 2014 comes just before a month of general elections in the UK. It authorizes all ports and airports to conduct exit checks for all outgoing passengers.

According to the report in the Times of India, UK Border Agency checks more than 100 million people that arrive at the airports and processes around 3.5 million applications each year for visas to stay, live or work in the United Kingdom.

The Deputy Prime Minister of UK, Nick Clegg, was quoted as saying, "Exit checks tell us whether the people who should have left actually have. Britain used to have them but they were dismantled by previous governments. The process began under the John Major government and was carried on by the Tony Blair administration and the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning to bring them back since 2004."

The Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition aims to keep track of the people living in the UK. So the Exit checks are being introduced. The data from these checks will assist the government to find overstaying and illegal immigrants, and also better the security to make UK a safer place for everyone. Apart from that, the government will also introduce new laws to revoke driving license, freeze bank accounts of overstaying individuals.

The process will be fully implemented by June. In the month of April, exit checks will be performed for 25% passengers, in May for 50% and in June for 100%. However, all passports will be thoroughly scanned at all exit points across UK.

The exit checks that are re-introduced will increase the wait time at the airports especially during peak travel times.

Source: The Times of India

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