New passport rules to make your holiday to France much easier

BRITS heading to France will find it much easier to get through the airport due to new rules being introduced.

Paris airport bosses want to allow UK travellers to use the passport eGates, despite being from a non-EU country.

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The new rules, ahead of the 2024 Olympics, hope to reduce huge queues and congestion ahead of the huge event.

Airports including Charles de Gaulle and Orly would see the changes.

Currently, only EU citizens can use the gates, and since the UK left the EU this is no longer possible for Brits.

However, the changes would allow anyone from the UK, as well as countries such as Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand to use the gates as well.

Direct of the French border force Fabrice Garden told The Local: “The problem is that at the moment the [gates] are configured for either third-country nationals or for Schengen nationals and we cannot change them on demand.

“The situation will soon be resolved with the possibility of configuring the gates in real-time.”

He added that the “country’s image was at stake” if there were huge delays at the border, with the Rugby World Cup in Paris also a huge upcoming event.

Manned passport booths often have much longer queues, with Brits recently complaining about being unable to use the faster automatic gates.

Last year, Portugal which was the first country in the EU to allow Brits to use eGates.

And in Spain, some popular airports allow Brits to use their eGates.

The Spanish tourist board confirmed: “British Citizens can now use the Automated Border Control eGates for Schengen passport holders at select Spanish Airports: Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Girona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Madrid, Málaga, Mallorca, Menorca, Valencia, Fuerteventura, Sevilla, Tenerife Sur.”

In the UK, Brits can use the eGates at airports across the country, which are much faster than the main passport control desks.

And from this summer, families will find it much easier to travel through the airport too.

Currently, only kids aged 12 and over can use the eGates at UK airports, which are much faster.

However, there are new plans to extend this to kids between the ages of 10 and 11 as well.

Border force chief executive Phil Doulas confirmed during an industry conference that trials have been launched at London Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick airports.

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