Guidance

Facial image search requests: caseworker guidance

Immigration staff guidance on handling requests to conduct searches against the passport and immigration facial image databases.

Documents

Details

UK Visas and Immigration guidance for staff about how to consider and handle requests from UK law enforcement organisations (LEOs) to conduct searches against the passport and immigration facial image databases.

This guidance seeks to ensure that Home Office staff understand and comply with the legal requirements. When they consider a request from a LEO to search a facial image, they must be satisfied there is a legal basis for performing the search, and that the search is both necessary and proportionate.

Memorandums of understanding between Home Office and LEOs are in place to formalise the framework set out in this policy.

Updates to this page

Published 15 September 2025

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