not2old

with all this modern technology, I was wondering about 'scanned passports at the passport control. As I don't have the answer, maybe someone on here knows..

Arriving at a UK airport with your British passport [next in line] the traveller hands over their passport to one of those official looking 'passport control' person, who then proceeds to do a few things with the passport. Ones that I have noticed

- Look at it & you to see if the photo matches

- The passport is scanned

When the passport is scanned, does anyone know what information appears on the computer screen the passport person is looking at?

BritInParis

Checking your passport details and photo matches what appears on the database and making sure it hasn't been reported lost, stolen or otherwise cancelled.

Jerseygirl

I assume it states what I've had for breakfast that morning.

bobbyleo

I would think its checking your biometric information and if there are any red flags showing against your name.

Novocastrian

A very sensible assumption these days.

holly_1948

I guess the question of interest to people in this particular forum is for dual citizens when the name in the passport does not match any passenger lists for arriving flights. Most obviously married women dual citizens who have maiden name in one passport and husband's surname in the other.

BritInParis

As a general principle if you've changed your name then all your documents should match.

That being said if you are presenting a valid British passport at the UK border then it wouldn't really matter which name you are using. A problem is more likely to arise if you booked a flight in one name and tried to check in with a passport in another name.

holly_1948

Laws on name for married (and divorced!) women get very complex when dealing with more than one country. In some cases it simply isn't possible to have the same name on all documents. In other cases it's simply too time consuming and especially a large expense to change things if one is retired and on limited income. It is easy to change names in Britain, but in many countries it is not and court decisions can be quite arbitrary.
Thankfully Britain does not (yet) require that a British citizen enters Britain on a British passport, but many countries do have such requirements. For example USA.
Obviously if you book a flight you have to present the passport that goes with the booking when checking in. But not necessarily at arrivals.
The possible issue or problem is the ever growing Orwellian way countries are run nowadays. Human rights are largely a historical artifact, no longer applicable.

Markie

One key is also to check that the photo on the chip (essentially impossible to tamper with) matches the printed photo.

Vexcore

It links with the IPS, database, to see if the passport number is in fact 'legit'

when they scan your passport, a list shows on the screen showing the following.

• Full name
• DOB
• POB
• Signature
• Passport number
• Valid date
• Expired date

And some other random numbers (maybe chip related)

and as the other guy said, also to see if your passport is red flagged for any criminal activity


And if anyone is wondering how i know this... well i simply asked the passport control guy at heathrow a while back, and he just told me lol... (so much for security)

Novocastrian

Or naivety?

Vexcore

Who knows....

Novocastrian

Quite.

Jerseygirl

Maybe there is more...he only told you the obvious stuff. Some of the things the IO has said to me makes me believe he knows a hell of a lot more.

Vexcore

of course there is more.

just saying what i know and he told me.