Digital visa scheme will boost security - deputy

Deputy Rob Prow said the visa scheme was essential to protecting the island's security

The head of Guernsey's Committee for Home Affairs has defended the planned introduction of a digital visa scheme.

It comes after travel expert Simon Calder warned the scheme could cost the UK and the Crown Dependencies "somewhere around £4bn a year" in lost revenue.

The new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is a permit which non-British and non-Irish citizens, who currently do not require a visa, will need to enter the UK and the bailiwick.

Home Affairs President Deputy Rob Prow said the scheme was "absolutely essential to safety and security".

Talks under way

The UK Home Office announced it would begin to enforce the scheme between January and April in 2025, but the States said it was not expected come into force in the Channel Islands until towards the end of 2025.

Currently, a scheme allowing French day trippers into the bailiwick using only identity cards is in place until the end of the 2025 summer season - the ETA scheme requires people to travel with their passports.

Mr Prow said his committee was in talks with the Home Office on the introduction of the scheme.

"This is for safety and security reasons, this is about preventing people who we think could do society harm from entering the UK or the Common Travel Area," he said.

"I can assure you we are very much involved in discussing these schemes, which are absolutely essential to safety and security."

'No longer acceptable'

The introduction of the ETAs will mean an end to the French day tripper scheme, the States said.

Mr Prow said this was because identity cards were "no longer acceptable and passports have to be used".

"This is an international phenomenon all around the world now," he said.

"The ability for nationals, particularly French nationals, to travel on identity cards is diminishing, and the ETA scheme means visas are only issued to passport holders.

"We always said that it would be time-limited and the use of passports by French nationals will be the way forward in the future."