UK opens pre-travel requirement to non-Europeans

Non-Europeans can now apply upfront for an digital journey authorisation (ETA) and can want one to journey to the UK from January 2025.

The UK authorities is introducing digital journey authorisation (ETA) for thousands and thousands of tourists who cross by the UK border yearly, together with 6 million from the USA, Canada, and Australia. From at this time all eligible non-European guests can apply for an ETA and can want one to journey to the UK from 8 January 2025.

Next yr, we’ll open ETA to eligible Europeans, who will likely be in a position to apply from 5 March 2025 and can want an ETA to journey to the UK from 2 April 2025. From April 2025, all guests to the UK who don’t want a visa for brief stays and who don’t have already got a UK immigration standing will want an ETA.

This enlargement follows the profitable rollout of ETAs to Gulf Cooperation Council nationals earlier this yr. In the primary half of 2024, over 243,000 Gulf nationals had been issued with ETAs and might now profit from smoother, simpler journey to the UK for brief journeys.

In 2023, guests from the USA, Canada, and Australia alone contributed £8.8 billion to the UK economic system, supporting the UK’s vacationer trade and boosting native companies throughout the nation. ETAs will improve safety by new know-how and make the UK border extra environment friendly, preserving the UK’s attraction as a dynamic, various, and thrilling vacation spot to go to.

Eligible guests ought to apply for his or her ETA by the UK ETA app, which is fast and easy to use and permits most candidates to obtain a choice in hours. Visitors may also apply on GOV.UK if they don’t have entry to a smartphone.

Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra MP, mentioned:This enlargement of ETA is a major step ahead in delivering a border that’s environment friendly and match for the digital age. Through light-touch screening earlier than folks step foot within the UK, we’ll preserve our nation secure whereas guaranteeing guests have a easy journey expertise.”

An ETA prices £10, permits a number of journeys, and lasts for two years or till the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. Once granted, ETAs are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport and permit for stays of up to 6 months at a time – together with each quick journeys and extra prolonged stays. An ETA isn’t a visa, it’s a digital permission to journey.

All travellers to the UK – besides British and Irish residents – will want permission to journey upfront by both an ETA or an eVisa. Replacing bodily immigration paperwork with eVisas lets UK visa holders use on-line immigration companies, take management of their knowledge and stop in opposition to paperwork being misplaced, stolen or tampered with.

To guarantee the graceful implementation of a digitised border, the UK authorities continues to work carefully with the journey trade, together with airline, maritime and rail carriers, and is delivering a communications marketing campaign to attain guests concerning the steps they want to take earlier than they journey to the UK.