Advance information on passengers

This page describes our procedures for collecting information about passengers before they travel to or from the UK, and how these may affect you.

Every year, more than 200 million passengers cross the UK border. To help secure the border, we use an electronic system called e-Borders to carry out checks on travellers before they begin their journey. This allows our officers to identify those who should not be in the UK or who intend harm.

All you need to do is provide your carrier with information from your passport or travel document before you travel, and the carrier then provides e-Borders with passenger and crew details for the journey.

You can request access to personal information held by e-Borders, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988. To request a copy of your records, you should make a 'subject access request' in writing. The Requests for personal data page of this website contains more information.

If you are in the transport industry, you can find detailed information about your responsibilities under e-Borders in the e-Borders requirements for carriers and ports section of this website. That section also contains information for the owners and operators of fishing boats, leisure craft (such as yachts) and light aircraft, although they do not yet need to provide information to e-Borders.