IRIS changes for South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Bolivia and Venezuela
22 July 2009
We have introduced new visa regimes and changed the iris recognition immigration system (IRIS) enrolment criteria for passport holders from the above countries.
If you are a passport holder from one of these countries and you want to use IRIS, you must enrol at one of the IRIS enrolment rooms located in the airside departures area of participating United Kingdom airports.
You must do this even if you were already enrolled on IRIS before 18 May (in the case of Bolivian and Venezuelan passport holders) or 1 July (for all passport holders from South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho).
You must enrol again if you want to continue to use IRIS.
Passport holders from South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho
If you have a passport from one of these countries and you want to enter the United Kingdom using the automated IRIS system, you will need to enrol at one of our designated IRIS enrolment rooms (unless you have already enrolled on or after 1 July 2009).
When you enrol, you will need to present the UK Border Agency enrolment officer with:
- your valid passport or travel document;
- a valid visa or identity card for foreign nationals (resident permit) confirming your immigration status in the United Kingdom; and
- your boarding card.
For more information about the new visa regime for South Africa, visit the official United Kingdom visa application website for South Africa.
For more information on the new visa regimes for Swaziland and Lesotho, visit our visa services website.
Holders of Venezuelan machine-readable biometric chip passports (ePassports)
If you have a Venezuelan biometric electronic chip ePassport, you are exempt from the new visa regime. However, if you want to enter the United Kingdom using IRIS you will need to enrol on IRIS at one of our designated IRIS enrolment rooms (unless you have already enrolled on or after 18 May 2009).
When you enrol, you will need to present the UK Border Agency enrolment officer with:
- your valid ePassport;
- a valid visa (if mandatory) or identity card for foreign nationals (resident permit) confirming your current immigration status in the UK; and
- your boarding card.
For more information about the new visa regime for Venezuela, visit our visa services website.
Holders of standard Venezuelan and Bolivian passports
If you have a standard Venezuelan or Bolivian passport and you want to enter the United Kingdom using the automated IRIS system, you will need to enrol on IRIS at one of the designated IRIS enrolment rooms (unless you have already enrolled on or after 18 May 2009).
When you enrol, you will need to present the UK Border Agency enrolment officer with:
- your valid passport or travel document;
- a valid visa or identity card for foreign nationals (resident permit) confirming your immigration status in the United Kingdom; and
- your boarding card.
For more information about the new visa regimes for these countries, visit the pages for Venezuela and Bolivia on our visa services website.