UK to hold market engagement for remote biometrics enrollment app next week

The UK Home Office is thinking about holding a biometric remote enrollment trial, and will hold a market engagement session to discuss those plans with industry next week. The intended application appears to be travel authorization for foreigners visiting the UK.

The “open early engagement” for a potential “Biometric Remote Enrolment Trial” will explore the technologies available for capturing fingerprint biometrics and binding them to an individual’s identity through a smartphone application. Home Office invites suppliers of such biometric apps to attend the event on August 19, 2025 at 15:00, British Summer Time.

Those interested in attending are asked to email Home Office at an address provided on the engagement’s Contracts Finder page.

The procurement process is described in the notice as being “in the early stage of development,” and focussed for now on “judging interest from potential suppliers.”

Home Office announced plans near the end of 2024 to conduct trials of fingerprint collection using smartphones, both in-person and remote, for use “by foreign nationals applying to come to the UK,” meaning both visitors and prospective immigrants.

The test will include an assessment of the effectiveness of biometric presentation attack detection (PAD).

A privacy information notice issued at the time noted that contactless fingerprint biometrics collection technology would also be assessed.

It also specified the suppliers of contactless fingerprint technology for the trials as VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd, Touchless ID (Identy), Dermalog, Veridium, iProov, Telos, Integrated Biometrics, Blue Biometrics, Thales DIS and IDLoop. Sub-suppliers include Sciometrics, Tech5, DXS and Gambit and support services are provided by Deloitte, Ingenium Biometric Laboratories and DSTL.

The system has been in development for years, with Home Office starting by comparing biometric enrollment via kiosks and smartphones. A Home Office official said in 2022 the system is similar to other electronic travel authorization (ETA) systems around the world, and is eventually expected to handle between 27 and 30 million people per year.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Home Office Biometrics (HOB)  |  mobile app  |  presentation attack detection  |  remote identity proofing  |  selfie biometrics  |  UK