An electronic travel authorisation will be required to visit the United Kingdom effective as of Wednesday, January 8, 2025 if you are a nationality of 48 specific countries and associated territories — and the cost to obtain one per person will be £10.00 or almost $12.70 in United States dollars.
Electronic Travel Authorisation Required to Visit the United Kingdom
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Australia
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Canada
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Hong Kong Special Administrative Region — including British national overseas
- Israel
- Japan
- Kiribati
- Macao Special Administrative Region
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Nauru
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Samoa
- Seychelles
- Singapore
- Solomon Islands
- South Korea
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Taiwan — if you have a passport issued by Taiwan that includes in it the number of the identification card issued by the competent authority in Taiwan
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- United States
- Uruguay
“An ETA is not a visa, it is a digital permission to travel”, according to the official Internet web site of the government of the United Kingdom. “In 2023, visitors from the USA, Canada, and Australia alone contributed £8.8 billion to the UK economy, supporting the UK’s tourist industry and boosting local businesses across the country. ETAs will enhance security through new technology and make the UK border more efficient, preserving the UK’s appeal as a dynamic, diverse, and exciting destination to visit.”
Additionally, an electronic travel authorisation has been required from the following six countries and associated territories since last year:
- Bahrain
- Kuwait
- Oman
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
Once purchased and obtained, electronic travel authorisations are valid for two years and permits multiple journeys. Babies and children are not excluded from the electronic travel authorisation scheme. A person can pay for electronic travel authorisations for other people. Once paid, the payment is not refundable.
You can apply for an electronic travel authorisation instead of a visa if you are:
- Visiting the United Kingdom for a maximum of six months for the following purposes:
- Tourism
- Visiting family and friends
- Business
- Short-term study
- Visiting the United Kingdom for a maximum of six months on the Creative Worker visa concession
- Visiting the United Kingdom for a permitted paid engagement
- Transiting through the United Kingdom — even if you are not passing through the border control of the United Kingdom
Nationalities of any of the following 34 countries and associated territories may apply for an electronic travel authorisation effective as of Wednesday, March 5, 2025 to visit the United Kingdom from Wednesday, April 2, 2025:
- Andorra
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Monaco
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Vatican City
With the exception of nationalities from Great Britain and Ireland, eventually all travelers to the United Kingdom will need permission to travel in advance through either an electronic travel authorisation or an electronic visa.
The mobile software application program can be downloaded from either the Apple Store or Google Play.
Final Boarding Call
This is simply yet another tax to enter the United Kingdom, in my opinion — and it also requires a few minutes of time that the applicant must invest which was not previously required. I did not need to do anything to visit the United Kingdom two months ago — and if I paid anything extra, the payment was included in my airfare of $84.29 round trip between Dublin and Glasgow with Ryanair…
…or it was included in my fare of $200.10 round trip between Chicago and Dublin with Air France…
All photographs ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
