To ask Her Majesty's Government whether immigration officials at entry or departure points from the UK have the real-time ability to check whether a UK passport holder (1) holds other passports, (2) is serving a custodial sentence or is on bail, and (3) has been registered as deceased.
Answered on
16 April 2018
Exit checks are not conducted by Border Force officers. Instead, carriers and port operators collect passenger data and submit it to the Home Office electronically.
We re-introduced the collection of exit checks data in April 2015 to further complement the work on border security, as well as support the Home Office’s wider work to stamp down on illegal immigration.
BF carries out 100% checks at passport control. All passengers arriving at passport control have their details checked against immigration and security databases.
Furthermore, processing of advance passenger information helps protect the UK against terrorist attacks, serious cross-border crime and abuses of the immigration system by assessing passengers and crew in advance of their arrival in or departure from the UK.
The data collected is already providing the police and security services with information to help track the movements of known criminals and terrorists.