Iris scanners for UK airports

Britain is to introduce an experimental iris recognition system at major airports for foreign visitors who volunteer for the scheme.

Volunteers from outside the European Union who live in or regularly visit Britain would be interviewed and have their irises scanned and stored, the UK Immigration Office said. Visitors who register would confirm their identity by passing through an iris recognition channel equipped with cameras rather than joining queues at immigration desks. The Iris Recognition Immigration System (Iris) will be installed at London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, as well as Manchester, north England, and Birmingham in the centre of the country. Describing the system as 'watertight', Immigration Minister Des Browne said more than 90 million people pass through British airports each year and that figure is set to rise, requiring a faster system to allow visitors into the country. The technology will be in place within a year, Browne added.