The UK government has announced that children aged 8 and 9 will be able to use UK eGates from Wednesday 8th July 2026 - which is, conveniently, just as the summer holidays get under way. If you're planning a trip to Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris or anywhere else abroad with young children this summer, this is useful news for the journey home.
Currently eGates - the automated passport gates you'll find at UK airports and ports - are only available to passengers aged 10 and over. The change will lower that to 8, provided the child is at least 120cm tall and is accompanied by an adult. Based on 2025 arrival figures, the government estimates around 1.5 million more children will be eligible to use the gates as a result.
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What Are eGates?
If you've not used them before, eGates are the self-service passport booths in the arrivals hall that scan your face and passport chip, check you're who you say you are and wave you through. They're available at over 290 locations across UK airports and juxtaposed ports (that's the technical term for places like Calais and Brussels where UK border checks happen before you board, rather than when you land).
Until now, children under 10 have had to use the staffed passport desks - which, if you've ever tried to wrangle tired, post-theme-park children through a queue at 11pm, you'll know is not the highlight of the holiday.
What This Means for Disney Families
For anyone returning from Walt Disney World in Florida or Disneyland Paris, this should take a bit of the sting out of the arrival process. Landing back at Gatwick or Manchester after a long-haul flight with a couple of overtired eight-year-olds is not always fun - so anything that speeds up passport control is a welcome improvement.
The change kicks in on 8th July, which lines up well with UK school summer holidays. If your trip is later in the summer or into the October half-term, you'll benefit from it on the way back. Worth adding that even if your children are just under the 120cm height requirement, the staffed desks will still be there - the eGates are an option, not a replacement.
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How Does It Work in Practice?
Children aged 8 or 9 using eGates will need to be accompanied by an adult and meet the height requirement of 120cm. They'll go through the gate together with the adult rather than independently. The whole process typically takes a few minutes, and with more passengers flowing through the automated gates, the expectation is that it should also reduce overall waiting times at passport control - including for those using the staffed desks.
The 290-plus gates covered include all major UK airports as well as the juxtaposed ports in France and Belgium, so it applies whether you're flying home or coming back through Eurostar.
The Bigger Picture
This sits alongside the UK government's broader push to modernise border operations. The Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme - which requires many non-UK and non-Irish visitors to get pre-approval before travelling to the UK - has been in place since February 2026, with nearly 25 million ETAs issued so far. Longer term, there are plans for a contactless border using facial recognition technology, removing the need to present a passport at all. That's still a way off, but the direction of travel is fairly clear.
