UK to abolish paper migration cards

From May 20, the UK authorities will abandon paper migration cards, which were previously filled out by hand by foreigners entering the country, the BBC reports , citing a letter from the head of the border service, Paul Lincoln, to department employees. This will allow border services to devote more time to security and reduce queues at checkpoints.

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• The abolition of paper migration cards will help solve the problem of the growing number of passengers - most of the necessary information will be collected electronically, Lincoln said in a letter. The head of the border service believes that the changes will help border service officers devote more time to groups that pose the greatest threat in terms of violations of migration rules.
• British trade unions are concerned that the abolition of migration cards will lead to chaos, due to which the Ministry of Internal Affairs will completely lose control over the flow of foreigners and migrant workers. In total, up to 16 million people arrive in the country annually, the BBC points out.

Context

• In March 2019, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond announced that from June of this year, in addition to citizens of EU member states, paper migration cards will be abolished for residents of seven countries - the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. The decision was prompted by an appeal from Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, to the government with a request to allow the use of automatic checkpoints (e-gate) for "low-risk" passengers due to long queues at border control points.
• The migration cards indicate the name, passport details, purpose of the visit, place of residence in the country and the flight number on which the foreigner arrived in the country.