Background

International borders are undergoing a digital transformation. The promise is quicker, more ‘seamless’, journeys for pre-vetted, everyday travellers, while ‘illegitimate travellers’ will be refused before they set out. The UK Border Strategy 2025 promises the world’s most efficient border delivered by Sociodigital technology. What does this mean in practice and what political, infrastructural, material, social challenges will it encounter?

The Home Office is rolling out its Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for short stay visitors and the European Union is imminently implementing its delayed Entry Exit System (EES) to keep track of everyone entering and leaving the block. In a Dover case study we explore the implementation of the vision of seamless borders and pre-travel authorisations and ask what this means for the UK Border strategy 2030 now in development.

Our approach

Expanded data capture, biometrics and advanced computer analytics are being combined to understand more about passengers earlier and automate much of the verification and risking work that was previously done by border officers. This means travellers need to submit more data about themselves and their journeys, and this data will be combined with other sources the government has access to like criminal records before a decision is made about whether or not they are allowed to travel.

For travellers to the UK, enrolment in the ETA system takes place via a smartphone app, based on the post-Brexit app introduced to register EU citizens applying for the EU Settlement Scheme. There have been some trials of an EES app for travellers to the EU, including UK citizens, to register basic biographical information, but the biometric data that locks an individual to their record needs to be captured in sight of an EU border official.

We explore the implementation of digital borders in practice, from the point of view of different stakeholders, including border crossers, and how future border visions shape and adapt to implementation issues. We focus on Dover as a site of implementation and on the challenges of biometric identification in a moving vehicle.

We have been conducting field site visits, desk research and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, submitting FOIs, attending trade shows and other industry fora. Despite its likely impacts there is a lack of public knowledge about consequences of sociodigital change at the border for everyday travel. We are preparing an information leaflet for travellers affected by EES at Dover, which will serve as an introduction to our research on sociodigital borders and initiate conversations with travellers about their experiences and knowledge.  

Opportunities and outcomes

According to a recent National Travel Attitudes study, 69% of respondents had not heard of EES, and 15% said they would travel to Europe less after it was implemented. The project will provide insights to aid public knowledge understanding of and facilitate debate on sociodigital borders and their accountability. It will further public understanding of the political economy of borders and raise social and political questions which risk being overlooked in the drive towards an ever-accelerated crossing. Finally our project will provide analysis that will facilitate decision-making, and challenges to decision-making about digital technologies, security and border crossing at a policy level.

CenSoF investigators: Bridget Anderson, Sanja Milivojevic, Travis van Isacker