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Airports: Immigration Controls

Asked by Mr Richard HoldenConservativeHome OfficeTabled Answered 12 February 2026UIN 110898

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 104868, what the service standard wait times at passport control are, and what assessment the Department has made of the economic impact of passenger delays at the border.

Answered by Mike Tapp

Border Force publish data on the percentage of sampled measurements cleared within service standards, with the target of 95%.

The service standard is 25 minutes for passengers using eGates or queues where the majority of passengers are GBR/ EEA/ B5JSSK nationalities / 45 minutes for passengers using queues dedicated to other nationalities.

The latest published data was Quarter 3 2025 (Jul-Sept) which showed 97.9% of sampled measurements were cleared within service standards.

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