Can I use the E-gates at UK airport with new citizenship, having had a previous visa refusal on a prior citizenship?

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Gov.uk says:

There are over 270 eGates in place at 15 air and rail ports in the UK to enable quicker travel into the UK.

You can normally use eGates if you:

  • have a biometric symbol on the cover of your passport
  • are aged 12+ (12 to 17 year olds must be accompanied by an adult)
  • are either: a British citizen; a national of an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA; a member of the Registered Traveller Service

Those travelling with ID cards cannot use the eGates

And then goes on to note that you may need to avoid the gates and get a stamp if you are carrying out paid engagements or seeking to move to the country. There is no mention of previous refusals etc mattering.

It's worth noting that being able to use the gates in no way implies automatic entry to the UK. There are border force staff desks by the e-gates at every place I have seen them, and they occasionally pull people in for further questioning. In the event that your previous refusal has caused you to be flagged in some way (this seems unlikley given the innocuous nature of your refusal) then I'm sure the border force staff will be alerted to investigate further.

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