Facial recognition cameras to be used to find immigration offenders at stations and events

4th November 2026

Updated 4 Nov 2026, 14:46 · First published 4 Nov 2026

People walking in a city with facial recognition tracking boxes around them — Photo: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock

The Home Office is preparing to use live facial recognition cameras at transport hubs and public events to find people breaking immigration rules, as part of what has been described as the biggest immigration crackdown in British history.

Policy documents, first uncovered by Liberty Investigates and reported by the Guardian, show the programme has “moved into the formal delivery phase”. It would cover “general immigration enforcement”, including people who have overstayed a visa or entered the UK without permission.

Facial recognition for immigration: what we know
📷 Live cameras could be used at transport hubs and at events expected to draw large crowds
📋 People could be put on watchlists for overstaying a visa or entering without leave, which are civil matters rather than crimes
🧒 No one under 18 will be put on a watchlist, the documents say
⚓ Three trials have already taken place at Holyhead port in north Wales, between November 2025 and February 2026
💷 Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has doubled the immigration enforcement budget and increased staff by 60%

What the Home Office says

The Home Office says the cameras would help find people with no legal right to be in the UK so their cases can be resolved, and that this would be less disruptive than repeated visits to homes and workplaces. A spokesperson said the department is “considering further trials” and is “actively exploring” the benefits and implications of the technology.

The trials at Holyhead targeted people coming from Ireland who were in breach of deportation orders or wanted for immigration-related offences.

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Why critics are worried

Campaigners have called the plans a “huge and shocking escalation of mass surveillance”. Griff Ferris, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said giving immigration enforcement more power to use facial recognition in public places was frightening.

Sarah Lasoye, from Open Rights Group, said facial recognition use is expanding without scrutiny, transparency or public consent. Critics also point to evidence that the technology can misidentify people of colour in some settings.

The government’s biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, William Webster, said he was not consulted and that immigration uses fall outside his remit. He said he hopes new laws on facial recognition will address questions about oversight.

Sources: The Guardian via AOL, Liberty Investigates, Home Office.