UK ETA 2026: Who Needs One, What It Costs and How Long It Takes

Who needs a UK ETA, and do Americans need a visa?

That short answer hides a few details that catch people out, so it is worth going slowly. An ETA is a digital permission linked to one passport. It is not a visa, it is not a stamp, and it does not promise you entry: gov.uk states plainly that it does not guarantee entry to the UK, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man. A Border Force officer still decides at the desk.

The ETA lets you travel for up to six months at a time for tourism, visiting family and a limited set of other short-stay reasons. It is the permission, not the purpose. If you are travelling to work, study or stay longer, you are in visa territory and this guide does not apply to you.

Americans, Canadians and most EU and Gulf passport holders fall into the group that needs an ETA instead of a visa. The official page does not print the full country list in one place; it points you to the eligibility checker on gov.uk. Use that checker for your own passport rather than a blog list, including this one.

Every traveller needs their own authorisation. That includes babies and children, and a parent can apply on behalf of a child. If you are booking a family transfer from Heathrow, count the ETAs before you count the car seats.

What does the UK ETA cost and how long does it last?

The fee is £20, paid by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay when you apply. It is non-refundable: if an application is rejected or needs changes, you apply again and pay again.

An approved ETA lasts two years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first, and covers as many trips as you like in that window, each of up to six months. Because it is tied to the passport you used, a new passport means a new ETA. Carry the same passport you applied with; the carrier checks it electronically.

A word on price. The government's own page notes that other websites may charge more and that some imitate the official service. The £20 figure is what the Home Office charges; anything materially higher on a lookalike site is a service fee for something you could do yourself in a few minutes. The same page says you cannot get a faster decision by applying through another website or app.

How do you apply, and how long does a decision take?

There are two routes: the UK ETA app (Google Play and the App Store) or the gov.uk website. The app is the quicker one because it scans your passport chip and your face with the phone camera. The website route needs a photo of your passport and a photo of your face that meets the digital photo rules; a non-compliant photo is the most common reason for a delay or a rejection.

You will need the passport you will travel with, an email address and a payment method. Applying for someone else is allowed: through the app if they are with you, otherwise online with photos of their passport and face.

On timing, the Home Office factsheet published in 2026 says most applicants get an automatic decision within minutes through the app, and it recommends applying at least three working days before you travel. The main gov.uk page says a decision usually arrives by email within a day but can take up to three working days. Read those together as a planning rule: apply when you book the flight, not at the airport gate.

If three working days pass with nothing, check your spam folder before anything else. UK Visas and Immigration does not take ETA enquiries by phone; you use webchat. You can also check your status and expiry date online at any time.

Who does not need an ETA?

The gov.uk exemption list is short and specific. You do not need an ETA if you are:

• a British or Irish citizen (dual British or Irish nationals cannot get an ETA and prove their status with a British passport, an Irish passport or a certificate of entitlement)
• a holder of a UK visa
• someone with permission to live, work or study in the UK, including settled or pre-settled status
• a holder of a British Overseas Territories citizen passport or a British National (Overseas) passport
• living in Ireland and travelling from Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man, with an original, valid Irish-issued document if you are 16 or older
• an airside transit passenger who does not pass through border control

Most of our readers will be in none of those groups, which is why the rest of this article assumes you do need one.

Do you need an ETA to change planes at a UK airport?

Only if you leave the airside zone. The government's wording is that you do not need an ETA if you are transiting through a UK airport without passing through border control. If you must collect bags and recheck them, or you step through UK passport control for any reason, you need the ETA.

The April 2026 Home Office factsheet adds a sharper line for the biggest hubs: people transiting Heathrow or Manchester without passing UK passport control do not currently need one. The word "currently" matters. The airside exemption has been described as one that is kept under review, so confirm it with your airline when you book.

One routing trap: you cannot use the airside exemption to reach the Republic of Ireland or anywhere else in the Common Travel Area. Our separate article on a London layover and the UK ETA walks through the connection scenarios hour by hour.

What happens when you land at Heathrow?

The ETA is checked before you board, not at the desk. Airlines and rail operators confirm your permission against Home Office records when you check in, which is why your passport must match the one you applied with.

On arrival you follow the signs to border control. If your passport and age qualify, you can use the eGates. Since 8 July 2026, children aged eight and over can use them, provided they are at least 120 cm tall and travelling with an adult. Younger children and anyone the gate rejects go to a Border Force officer. That is a real change for families, because for years a seven- or ten-year-old forced the whole group into the staffed queue.

After the desk you collect bags, clear customs and walk into arrivals. If you have booked a name-board meet and greet, your driver is waiting inside the hall, and the flight tracking we run on every airport pickup means the car is adjusted to your actual landing time, not the scheduled one. The first 60 minutes after an international landing are free waiting time, which is enough for a slow border queue.

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Heathrow to central London: your options once you are through

Heathrow sits about 25 km (16 mi) west of central London. By road the drive is roughly 35 minutes without traffic (OpenStreetMap road-routing data, free-flow), and it stretches well beyond that on a Friday evening or when the M4 has an incident. The table compares the realistic modes.

The train wins when you are alone, travelling light and your hotel is near a station. The car wins with three or more people, with children, with golf bags or when you land at the end of a long-haul flight and want a door-to-door answer. Our Heathrow to Central London page has the route detail, and the Heathrow Express versus Elizabeth line comparison goes deeper on the rail choice.

Common ETA mistakes that cost travellers their trip

The first is applying on a lookalike site and paying more than £20. The second is applying with one passport and travelling on another, which happens to dual nationals more than anyone. The third is forgetting a child, because the party "had the ETA done" while one name was missing.

A fourth catches people who renew their passport between booking and flying: the ETA is linked to the old passport and will not match the new one. A fifth is leaving it to the last hour; the system usually answers fast, but a manual check can take up to three working days, and an airline will not let you board without it.

Finally, an ETA expiring before you fly is easy to miss because it lasts "up to" two years. If your passport expires within a few months of the trip, check the expiry date on the status page rather than assuming.

ETA, EES and ETIAS: three acronyms, three different things

People mix these up constantly. The UK ETA is the British system for visa-free visitors coming to the UK. The EU Entry/Exit System is a separate border registration for non-EU travellers entering the Schengen area. ETIAS is a separate EU authorisation that the European Union says is not yet operating. If your trip combines London with Paris or Amsterdam, you will meet more than one of them; our EES explainer and ETIAS explainer cover the continental side.

Where this fits for a London arrival

For a Heathrow pickup, the sequence is simple: ETA approved before you fly, border control or eGate on landing, bags, then the driver. The part you control is the buffer. Build in time for a queue at border control, because a transfer that was timed to the minute is the one that suffers when a flight is early and the hall is full. See London Heathrow airport transfers for the meeting point detail, or London Gatwick if you are arriving there instead. The wider picture for the continent sits on our Europe hub, and the airport transfer hub lists every airport we cover.

The Home Office reported 24.8 million ETAs issued from the scheme's launch to the end of 2025, so the system is established and the routine is predictable. The only part that changes is who needs one and when, which is why you should treat the official page as the final word and any summary, including this one, as a map to it.

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