UK has launched a brand new on-line entry necessities for European guests from Wednesday, implementing a digital Digital Journey Authorisation (ETA) allow as a part of enhanced safety measures.
European travellers should acquire an ETA allow, initially priced at £10 (12 euros), with prices rising to £16 from April 9. The system has already been operational for guests from America, Canada and different visa-exempt nations since Britain’s EU departure in 2020.
UK border pressure chief Phil Douglas confirmed this implementation as a part of a broader international rollout, emphasising its main perform as a safety measure.
The system goals to expedite entry procedures while enabling background checks on immigration historical past and prison information. Douglas highlighted that authorised travellers would profit from quicker border crossing by eGates.
“The quid professional quo for the person, although, is that we’re constructing a contactless border, so in the event that they’re cleared for entry, they’re going to be capable of use our new eGates they usually’ll be capable of undergo the border rather more shortly,” he added.
In the course of the preliminary buffer interval, anticipated to proceed till “September or October,” travellers can nonetheless proceed with their journeys. The ETA stays legitimate for 2 years, allowing stays as much as six months.
Functions opened to Europeans in March, masking roughly 30 international locations, excluding Eire. Candidates should submit passport pictures and facial photos by a smartphone app or authorities web site, sometimes taking 10 minutes to finish.
While most functions obtain swift responses, authorities advise permitting three working days. The requirement extends to all ages, although transit passengers not crossing UK borders are exempt following Heathrow Airport’s considerations about European connection site visitors.
Heathrow, which dealt with 84 million passengers in 2024 with one-third from the EU, initially launched the scheme for Qatar in 2023 earlier than increasing to Gulf nations. By January, it included about 50 extra international locations together with Argentina, South Korea and New Zealand.
