On this page (6 sections)
Passport control in one minute
Passport control is the UK border check every arriving passenger clears before baggage reclaim. At Gatwick each arrivals route has two areas, one for British, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and one for all other nationalities, and within the first group most people use the automatic eGates instead of queuing for a staffed desk. The gates read your biometric passport and match your face, and the whole thing takes a minute or two once you reach the front.
The headline change for families is that from 8 July 2026 the eGates open to children as young as 8, down from 10, which pulls a lot of families out of the slower staffed queue. Beyond that, the things that decide how fast you get through are within your control: the right passport, ready the right way, and knowing which route is yours. The sections below cover each, plus the paid Fast Track lane for when the hall is busy.
The eGates and who can use them
The eGates are open to holders of a chipped biometric passport from the UK, any EU or EEA country, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea or the USA, plus members of the UK Registered Traveller service. If your passport has the small chip symbol on the cover and you are from one of those places, the gates are yours to use, and they are almost always quicker than a desk.
The age rule is where 2026 changes things. From 8 July 2026 the minimum age drops from 10 to 8: a child aged 8 or 9 can use the gates if they have a biometric passport, are at least 120cm tall, and go through with an adult, while from age 10 there is no height requirement. Anyone under 18 still has to be accompanied by an adult. Children below the age threshold, anyone without a biometric passport, short-term study arrivals and all other nationalities use the staffed desks instead. One rule catches people out regardless of passport: it must not expire during your visit.
The two routes and the staffed desks
Follow the signage from your gate and the arrivals route divides into the two passport areas. British, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals take one side, where the eGates sit; every other nationality takes the other, for the staffed desks where an officer checks the passport and any visa and usually asks the purpose of the visit. If you are eligible for the eGates but travelling with someone who is not, you go through separately, so agree a meeting point in the baggage hall before you split up.
If you cannot use the gates, whether because of your nationality, your passport, your age or a visa that needs a stamp, head for the left-hand side of the arrivals hall, where the staffed desks are, and have any visa paperwork ready before you reach the officer. After the border, everyone flows into the same place: baggage reclaim, where the carousel number for your flight is on the screens, and then customs and the exit. The arrivals board tracks the inbound flight for anyone waiting the other side.
How to get through faster
The eGates are fast, but only if you feed them the right thing the right way. Have your passport open at the photo page with any holder or cover removed, because the reader needs the bare page, and take off hats and sunglasses so the camera can match your face to the photo. That one habit, passport out and face clear before you reach the gate, does more to keep the queue moving than anything else, and a fumbled cover at the front holds up everyone behind you.
Families should stay together and go through as a group rather than scattering across gates. If you are travelling with a child who is not your own, border officers may ask for evidence of your relationship or permission to travel, such as a birth certificate or a signed parental authorisation letter, and the airport publishes a Young Traveller's Form for exactly this; carry the paperwork rather than hoping the question is not asked. Anyone who needs help through the border can use the special assistance service, which covers the arrival just as it covers departure.
Fast Track and assistance
When the arrivals hall is busy, the airport sells a way past the queue: Fast Track passport control, a dedicated lane to the border from £15 per person. It runs at both terminals and is capped at 50 passengers an hour to keep it moving, but it is pre-book only, at least four hours before you use it, and you cannot buy it on arrival, so it has to be arranged before you fly. The Fast Track guide covers both this and the departures security version.
Who benefits most? Travellers who cannot use the eGates and would otherwise join the staffed-desk queue, which is where the long waits happen after a bank of long-haul flights lands together. If your whole party carries eGate-eligible biometric passports, the free gates are usually quick enough that £15 a head is hard to justify. It is the non-eGate arrival, or the tight onward connection, where the lane earns its price.
Practical tips
- Passport out and open before you reach the gate. Photo page showing, holder and cover off, hats and sunglasses away. The gate reads the bare page and your face, and preparing at the front is what causes the queue.
- Check the chip and the expiry. Only chipped biometric passports work the eGates, and the passport must not expire during your visit, so check both before you travel, not in the hall.
- Families, go through together. From 8 July 2026 children aged 8 and up can use the gates with an adult, so a whole family can often skip the desk. Carry documents if a child is not your own.
- Budget the whole arrival, not just the border. Allow 30 to 45 minutes from landing to the arrivals hall for an international flight with hold bags, more at the early-morning peak, because baggage reclaim comes after passport control.
- Pre-book Fast Track only if it fits. It helps non-eGate arrivals and tight connections, but an eGate-eligible party rarely needs it. Meeting someone? The pick-up guide has where to wait, and everything else the airport runs is in the services guide.