Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking is US Customs and Border Protection taking a page from the United Kingdom or I should say excuse me is the United Kingdom taking a page from the US Customs and Border Protection in putting in something like an ESTA system to enter the UK? What are we talking about here?

Well, let me go ahead and quote from an article in AFAR, that's afar.com, the article is titled: Travel to the UK Will Soon Require an Online Permit and Fee. Quoting directly, and I urge those who are watching this video, go read that article in detail, a lot of good information, a lot of good insight in there. Quoting directly: "A new Electronic Travel Authorization system is slated to go into effect by 2024 for all international travelers arriving in the United Kingdom.” Quoting further: “Starting next year, Travelers heading to the United Kingdom will need to take a few extra planning steps before hopping the pond. The UK is in the process of introducing a new Electronic Travel Authorization, ETA" (I will get to that in a minute) quoting further: "system that will require travelers, including those from visa free countries such as the United States, to obtain permission to travel to the UK ahead of arrival. Quote: "we are introducing a universal 'permission to travel' requirement which will require everyone wishing to travel to the UK (except British and Irish citizens) to seek permission in advance of travel," the British Government explains in a fact sheet about the forthcoming ETA system." 

Interesting in my opinion that this is called the Electronic Travel Authorization because in the United States it is called ESTA, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, not much of a difference in terms of the acronym. As we have known going back into the George W. Bush Presidency, ESTA has been part and parcel of the Immigration experience even for those who have passports from countries which do not require a Visa in order to enter the United States. Members of the so called Visa Waiver Program, still have to deal with the ESTA system. It now appears that the UK is putting in something similar. I remember when this first came out sort of toward the end if I recall of W's Presidency, of the George W. Bush Presidential Administration system this was rolled out if I recall right, it was called at the time something akin to a Back Door Visa or an Indirect Visa insofar as before folks could enter the United States for example on a British passport Visa free. Now, okay they don't require a Visa but they have to process through the ESTA system in order to get into the US. It looks like the UK is now sort of doing the same thing requiring those who want to come into the UK, to go through their own version of this.

I have to say I am not thrilled by all of this stuff on a personal level. I can talk about it sort of professionally in kind of a neutral manner but I think that all of this stuff is highly redundant. I don't really see a lot of the point of it especially when one considers right at the fingertips of most Customs and Border Protection Officers is basically all the information associated with an individual’s travel to and from a given country so I don't really see why this extra layer is required other than, I can see there are certain limited circumstances where someone who is deportable kind of puts something of a strain on the resources of the country that one is attempting to enter. I can kind of see that but that was my understanding what the budget was for for things like Customs and Border Protection; it was designed to deal with such matters. 

Again, I am kind of ambivalent on ESTA; I'm not from the UK so I'm not going to really comment on that. It is their decision, they are a sovereign country, they can decide to do whatever they want but my opinion is I kind of think the ESTA system in the United States was probably more trouble than it is worth. I am happy to stand corrected, I am not really aware internally what all the data is associated with that, maybe it has been a resounding success and this is why the UK is undertaking this. I don't really know. If there is further information on this we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.