Not long ago, I shared a news story in my daily travel news round-up titled: “Traveling to the U.K. Soon? You Might Need to Apply and Pay a Fee First.” A reader then sent me an email asking, “Can you expand or give any info on this new fee? We are going to London in April.”
I was happy that Larry reminded me about this because I’ve been meaning to write a tip on this since so many Americans and Canadians travel to the United Kingdom each year. I used to go at least once a year but not so much since Covid. It’s time for me to start up my UK travels again since I miss and love it there so much.
According to the New York Times “Travelers from the United States, Canada and dozens of other countries who do not require visas to enter the United Kingdom will soon need to apply for digital authorization in order to visit or transit through the country.”
Unfortunately, the new rule, which goes into effect on January 8, 2025, is going to require all tourists to get an electronic visa called an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). It’s similar to the one that Australia requires, which I just wrote about in my story about last month’s trip Down Under. Here’s that trip report.
It looks like the UK’s visa rules are quite similar to Australia’s. They charge $20 AUD ($12.60) and the UK’s ETA is going to be £10 GBP ($12.43 USD). Just like Australia, everyone travelling needs to get an ETA, including babies and children. Also like Australia, you can apply for other people in your party, which I did for my wife and two kids using Australia’s high tech app.
According to the UK government they really want travelers to apply for an ETA via their app. They write on their website that by applying on the UK ETA app, you’re more likely to:
-complete your application quicker
-get a faster decision
-it should only take 10 minutes to apply.
Here are the links to the apps:
–UK ETA on the App Store
–UK ETA – Apps on Google Play
However, the apps have very low ratings and one person wrote: “Do not waste your time on this piece of junk. Apply on the website and save the aggravation. An unmitigated disaster. App randomly stops at various places. Most recently, when I took a picture of the passport photo page, it said it was the wrong document.” So you might want to apply on their website or wait until they iron out the kinks.
Another reason you might want to wait is that you cannot get a refund after you apply, just in case you cancel your trip. So I would wait until a couple weeks before just to make sure you’re going (or get travel insurance).
The good news is that after you apply, your ETA lasts for two years. You can travel to the UK as many times as you want during that time. The UK government will send you an email confirming you have got an ETA.
The bad news is that you must apply for an ETA before you travel to the UK. But you can travel to the UK while waiting for a decision. It’s not going to take long; some people are reporting it takes as little as one minute to get approved.
Overall, it’s not great news that Americans, Canadians and some other nationalities can’t just jump on a plane to the UK like we have done in the past. Now, you have to fill out the forms, scan your face and passport and pay a fee. It’s basically a money grab but you can’t blame them since the U.S. has been requiring Brits to do this for years.
One person posted on social media: “Seeing US travelers complain about having to pay for visas, city taxes, ESTAS/ETAs is WILD. Are you that oblivious to what it takes to visit the US?”
View on Threads
And just like the U.S. requires foreigners to fill out an ESTAs even to transfer, Americans will need to apply for an ETA even if they’re not leaving the airport and just changing planes, too. Might be another reason to avoid UK airports, besides their endless congestion.
KEEP READING
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–The travel gadget flight attendants never leave home without
–Going on a cruise? Be sure to bring this
–The genius phone hack to try when your plane doesn’t have an in-flight entertainment system
–Travel hack: How to use your wireless headphones to watch in-flight movies
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EU also implements a similar requirement in spring 2025. Going to London and Paris in November so have on my list to get both of these out of the way well in advance
Well so much for going to UK. They have no website application, just for cellphones. And they say if your cellphone can’t connect, ask to borrow someones. What a joke !