From 2 April 2025, European nationals and Swiss nationals other than Irish nationals will require an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for temporary travel to the UK. Generally speaking, an ETA will be required by visitors coming to the UK for business or leisure and for those transiting through the UK, other than for airside transits. It is however important to bear in mind that EU or Swiss nationals who are living in the United Kingdom under the Home Office’s EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) or indeed in another immigration category, will not require an ETA and furthermore, an ETA is only required for temporary travel to the UK.
Whilst the ETA scheme is being introduced from 2 April 2025, the application process itself opened last week on 5 March 2025 and travellers to the UK can apply for the ETA either via the ETA app or by using the Home Office’s online application process. Like with most things to do with the Home Office, there is a fee to apply for the ETA and this is currently set at £10.00 although the Home Office have already proposed an increase to this fee by over 50% later on in the year.
Once obtained, the ETA is valid for a period of up to two years or until the expiry of holder’s passport, whichever happens sooner. It is however worth bearing in mind that the ETA will allow holders to travel to the UK on multiple occasions for periods of up to six months at a time. The Home Office position is that an ETA will take around three working days to process but it is important to bear in mind that it is likely that the Government is likely to be overwhelmed with ETA applications and it would be prudent to allow more time for the ETA to be issued.
It is very important that European Union and Swiss Nationals are aware of the new requirement from April and particularly international and UK businesses need to ensure that their employees are aware of the imminent change and apply for the authorisation in good time to ensure that they are able to enter the UK for business purposes as planned rather than having to delay or postpone meetings in the absence of the ETA being issued.
For advice on this or any other immigration matter, please contact Sohan Sidhu.
