Brits WON’T get a shorter passport queue after Brexit and will still have to share a line with EU citizens
Sajid Javid has reportedly concluded it would be too expensive to set up separate queues at airports
HOME Secretary Sajid Javid has binned plans for UK-only passport queues at British airports after Brexit.
Holidaymakers and businessmen alike will have to continue to stand next to other EU nationals from countries such as Germany and France when they come home.
The move comes despite growing concerns within the Home Office that Brussels will force Brits into slower lanes when they go to the Continent from March 2019.
A minister last summer urged the Government to introduce UK-only 'Brexit lanes' after holidaymakers were hit by mammoth queues in hotspots such as Madrid, Lisbon, Lyons, Milan and Brussels.
But officials have warned it will cost too much for staff to man separate desks for Brits at places like Heathrow or major ports.
A source : “We’ve looked at it and found that separate queues for Brits would actually lead to Brits being in the slowest queues.
“At most airports the overwhelming number of people coming in are Brits. At some times of the day the British queue would be longer than all the others put together.”
The move comes as Sajid Javid prepares to unveil this Thursday the details of how EU nationals living in Britain can apply for “settled status” – or permanent residency.
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He is set to infuriate Brexit-backers by saying EU nationals should still have preferential access to UK visas. And he is expected to say EU nationals coming to Britain may not have to register upon arrival in the UK until 2021.
A Home Office source yesterday said the department would use the opportunity of Brexit to take back control of UK borders.
A “range of options” for the Government’s future immigration system will be set out in more detail later this year, the source added.
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