Traveling to the United Kingdom requires an extra step for virtually all visitors as of today, including those from the United States and European Union. While this policy was introduced for Americans and select other foreigners earlier this year, it has today been extended to those from the European Union. Let’s take a look at all the details.
UK rolls out widespread Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)
Prior to 2025, travelers from many parts of the world were able to travel to the UK without pre-registering, thanks to a visa waiver program. However, that has now changed, because effective immediately, virtually all foreign visitors (with the exception of those from Ireland) will need to apply for an ETA prior to visiting the UK.
Note that while this was initially also supposed to apply to international transit passengers, that’s no longer the case, so those staying in international transit don’t need to apply.
Prior to 2025, this was already in place for those coming from select countries in the Middle East, like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Then as of January 8, 2025, this was extended to travelers from many parts of the globe, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and more. Then as of April 2, 2025, this has been extended to visitors from the European Union.
While the fee for this ETA was initially £10, the price is increasing to £16 as of April 9, 2025 (presumably due to the drop in revenue of not charging transit passengers for this). Each ETA is valid for multiple entries across two years (assuming your passport doesn’t expire in that time period), with no stay being longer than six months. It can take three working days for an ETA to be approved, though in many cases they’ll be approved faster than that, within minutes or hours.
The process of applying for an ETA should be done through the UK ETA app (which can be downloaded in the app store), and requires providing your passport information and contact details, uploading a photo of yourself, answering questions, and paying a fee. However, if you’re not able to download the app, the process can also be done through this website.
Officially, these kinds of pre-travel authorizations are intended to give the country a better understanding of who is arriving at the border, to potentially stop any high-risk travelers in advance.
This is annoying, but not a huge deal
The United Kingdom is hardly the first place to require an ETA for travelers from visa waiver countries. It’s something the United States has required from visa waiver country visitors for years, and for that matter, the European Union is rolling out a similar initiative in the near future (though there’s no official launch date, as the program has been delayed).
£16 isn’t a huge amount of money, and it’s even valid across multiple entries. It pales in comparison to the UK Air Passenger Duty that passengers pay.
However, there’s no denying that it’s mildly annoying to increasingly have to pay these fees and fill out forms before travel. Sometimes travelers forget to do this in advance, and that can cause some serious issues, especially when an instant approval doesn’t come through.
Bottom line
The United Kingdom has rolled out an electronic travel authorization requirement for virtually all travelers from visa waiver countries. This can be done by downloading the UK ETA app, and then completing an online form in advance of travel, and paying a fee of £16 (£10 through April 8, 2025).
The rollout of this is now complete. Those from the United States and select other countries had to start applying as of earlier this year, while it has now also been rolled out for those from the European Union. While this isn’t a huge deal, it’s just another minor inconvenience that travelers headed to the UK will have to deal with.
What do you make of the UK rolling out an ETA requirement on a widespread basis?
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