I'm an EU citizen now living in US. Whenever I fly back home and happen to have a layover in London, Frankfurt, Stockholm or wherever else, I do feel like I'm home as soon as I enter EU. I enjoy sharing the queue with all other fellow European citizens. If Robert Crampton does not associate himself with the rest of EU, then maybe you should ask yourself 'why?' Is it a problem of the rest of EU or is it a problem with you isolating yourself from the rest?
When you refer to Americans coming 'home' and being greeted with "Welcome Home" at JFK, how many of the Americans in JFK do you think actually live in the state of New York? There are Georgians, Texans, Californians, Nebraskans, etc. who are greeted back home at JFK and they do feel that they belong there. Despite the pride each of them carries for their home state. No Texan or Californian will call New Yort thier true home, but USA is! No Briton should consider Germany, Belgium or Italy their home, but I think EU is the home!

Oskar, Chicago,

The article just highlights what is wrong with the whole British thinking about Europe. If the UK joined Schengen no British citizen would have to endure long queues at UK airports. Everybody in Europe moves freely with no queues at airports for passport controls. Only Britain believes it cannot trust those suspicious Europeans and tries to pull the drawbridge up (with very little practical effect). They (and all the other EU nationals) unfortunately have to pay the price every time they come back from a short trip to "Europe" as well as when they travel to Europe!

Sven, London,

I agree strongly with Nik of London and sympathise with Anna of Queensland. I feel ashamed and angry whenever coming through passport control to see people from the Commonwealth reduced to the 'other' queue. Most of us have relatives in Canada, Australia or New Zealand, great countries that have the Queen as head of state just as we do. We all owe a profound debt of gratitude to our Commonwealth friends and cousins who joined us so generously in two world wars. We have so much in common with them not only historically but in our shared constitutional and legal systems as well as common culture which means in fact we are far more like them than the Europeans who queue alongside us. I would be all in favour of a queue for UK, a queue for Commonwealth, a queue for EU and a queue for the rest.

Edward, Oxford, UK

On arrival at LHR, the EU passport holder line is usually shorter than that for Non-EU passport holders. So if you happen to have fallen into conversation with a non-EU passport holder, she can accompany you. “Child, you don’t want to go wasting your precious time standing in line with them no account riffraff and white trash.” Well this worked in 2005. Perhaps the Pakistan born Immigration officers at LHR have got wise to the "This my ward" ploy by now.
At this end of the ranch, at Narita Airport us permanent residence "gaijins" have our own line, inevitably far shorter. But we now get photographed and fingerprinted. Well, you can't be too careful; bin Laden is the master of disguise.

Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan

With the boundaries of the EU spreading wider over recent years, the queues for EU arrivals at airports like Stansted which handle mostly short-haul budget flights are enormous, and there are not enough staff to move people through quickly. Being a "European Union National" carries no benefit when the rest-of-the-world queues are much shorter. Time for BAA to introduce a UK-only fast lane?

Nick, London,

Try being a New Zealander who has a grandfather born in Scotland who spent 2 years of his life in North Africa fighting Germans for this country and arriving back to any UK airport and being stuck in the "all other nationalities" queue for hours.

Marcus, London,

Unbelievable ignorance concerning the values of the European Union.

We all go through the same channel everywhere within the Unions. We are, and are treated, as equal.

We all go through the faster EU queue everywhere in the Union, because we share the same immigration and freedom of travel rules.

If a European goes to a foreign country he or she will queue with the rest.. it is only normal that non-Union people who have immigration issues queue when entering the Union.

What's so difficult to understand here Mr Crampton?

The real issue here should be why do we have to go through passport control at all, when travelling between GB/IRE and most of the rest of the Union ? Answer: the government's decision to opt out of the Schengen area... But I am sure that that makes the Little Englanders happy.

Peter Goddard, Epsom, England, EU

@ Karl, Oxford - your very quick-fire with that word.

Heavily accented or not, if you have sufficient pride in the country you are obund to take it slightly personally that you are held up and questioned whilst others fly by.

I was asked to remove my shoes the last time I passed through security and was horrified to realise that I was the only one. No heavy accents, but no explanation either.

This kind of thing (queues on arrival) may superficially seem inconsequential but it is all symptomatic of a movement from our own nation to a homogenous grey one.

Geoff, Portsmouth,

It's as if the country was run by traitors, isn't it?

Think about it: we all know that the traitors of the 40's and 50's were unmasked, although somehow most of them were 'helped' by members of the establishment to escape justice.

But suddenly there were no more. No traitors in the 60's? 70's? 80's? Did the KGB go to sleep?

Or were the traitors never brought to justice because they took over the state?

It makes much more sense than any other explanation I've seen.

Roger, Ipswich,

@Steve Jacks: I don't know about patriots but it's certainly having that effect on racists.

Karl, Oxford,

At last a commentator who truly understands what it means to be British. It has nothing to do with history or culture or genes. It's not even about xenophobia or passport queues.

No, it's that extraordinary ability to seize on some mind-bendingly pointless piece of minutiae about modern life and to rant on and on and on about it as if it were the tiniest bit consequential.

Yes - that most British of Britons, the saloon bar bore, is very much alive and well.

John, London,

Here, here, Nik of London. My frustrations exactly. Nevermind the Australians who fought and died in the defence of England or the fact Queen Elizabeth is our Queen too. Every time I enter the UK I'm interrogated by some non-English accented customs officer intent I'm going to out-stay my welcome in Britain. 1) What welcome? 2) Why would I want to? Having travelled through much of England I have found not the country portrayed to be so intelligent and polite through years of English literature and television, but a place rather un-welcoming and at times intimidating. These days, I only enter Britain if I have to on my passage elsewhere.

Anna, Queensland, Australia

being british, but not having been born, or ever lived in, london, i never feel like i'm coming "home" when arriving in one of your many london airports.

unless the airport was disgorging me directly on the street where i live, i'm happy enough to queue with pretty much anyone else at passport control - my family waiting for me outside the arrivals gate is what makes it home, not a sign above a queue.

i think you need to look at what home means to you, your definitions are out of whack.

Nick Dyson, Edinburgh,

I was bloody annoyed when I left Heathrow with a laptop which was subjected to 20 minutes hard study by the staff at the scanners, none of whom were natural born English, Scottish or Welsh people. "Britons" they may have been, but they all spoke heavily accented English to each other, and if I was worried about terrorism I wouldn't bother with my laptop, I'd employ people at an British airport who are 'actually' British...and then on the way back in, another "foreigner-Briton" who barely spoke English quizzed me about why I'd been out of the country, how long I was planning to be in England, where I was going to stay, etc and another half a dozen questions...I could barely believe it, and even now thinking about what a dump this place is turning into puts me on edge. Sod the Britishness test and allegience to the Queen - this new-multi-culti-Britain drives patriots to emigration.

Steve Jacks, London,

In my experience nearly all (if not all) EU airports have only EU vs non-EU immigration desks.
Would you rather be put in "cattle-class" on arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris or at Barajas in Madrid? Do want to be treated as second-class when travelling to any other EU country only to be treated as first-class when you arrive home?? How pathetic.
Although there may be problems with our immigration system, I'm not really sure what your suggestion would be remedying.
The world, inluding Europe, is getting smaller and I don't see the problem with allowing the same entry point for citizens of European countries all with similar standards of living.

Rob, Paris, France

I've also noticed that when I approach passport control in other EU countries I'm greeted in the language of the country I'm in. Do you get a hello, or good morning at British passport control? Not a word.

Danny, Grays, Essex,

I have every sympathy for you, mate. But try being an Aussie or Kiwi. We don't even get the privilege of being in the EU queue. We have to stand for hours in the 'other' queue. No special treatment for those of us from countries that still have the Queen as our head of state; have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Britain in every war in the last 100 years. And yet former sworn enemies can enter via the EU gate :)

Nik, London,

Sorry to burst your idea of the "British" queue Robert but when I, an Englishman, used to visit the UK, I would join the "British" queue at Heathrow together with my Mexican wife and two children who have joint nationality.
The advantage was that the "British" queue usually had about 3 people queueing whilst the "Rest Of The World" queue had about 66,000,000 people waiting and grumbling about their first taste of British efficiency.
Suppose I've lost that perk now then.

Robin Bather, Metepec, Mexico

Having not flown for six years, I was completely unaware about this policy. Even if this did occur back in the early Noughties, then due to age and innocence I was, comparatively, blissfully ignorant about the EU then. Oh happy days ;). A fantastic solution to Gordon's Identity craving would be a separate queue for Brits at all airports, with a cup of tea on arrival, as Caitlin suggested recently in one of her superb columns. I could stomach another queue for 'other' EU nations (not States in my book- I'm not ready for that amount of Federacy yet!) if it had to be so. It's very pleasant to know that others find the EU as tiresome, Robert.

Emma, Staffs,

Yes we do like to queue - but not that much. I have queued for Immigration twice for over an hour on each occasion at Luton Airport in recent months. The national origins of the occupants of the queue is irrelevant; what is relevant is that the Home Office (or whichever bit of Brown's empire is responsible) ensures that the Immigration Service is poorly staffed and badly organised. That is why there are queues. When I looked around me at other EU nationals being resigned but mightily irritated at this needless delay the last thing I wanted to be was British!

Roy, Chinnor,