There’s relevant news for you this week if you’re an international visitor planning to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) in future. This Monday 24th June 2021, the UK government’s Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced further details of the country’s planned digital visa system.
This is being called the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation), and you’ll have to apply for this document unless you hold an existing visa or immigration status, or if you’re a UK or Irish national. On the bright side, this won’t impact your journeys to the UK in the immediate future, as it’s thought that the UK will launch its ETA sometime in 2025! Here are more details to be aware of.
UK Government to Model New Digital Visa on US ESTA Waiver
The UK government looks set to model its ETA on the United States’ ESTA visa waiver, while the European Union is similarly set to launch its ETIAS visa waiver as of 2022/3. Both the ESTA and ETIAS are online travel passes that you apply for and acquire entirely on a website, then once your application is approved, you receive them in your email inbox.
In the case of the US ESTA, you then print this to take with you on your journey to present at the US border, while the ETIAS is electronically linked to your passport, which is scanned as usual. It’s yet to be determined whether the UK will follow the US or EU in this respect.
UK Yet to Announce Cost of ETA, May Mimic US/EU Prices
Similarly, the UK is still to announce the cost of the ETA for visitors. America charges $14 for its ESTA, while the ETIAS looks set to cost €7 per person, except for applicants under 18 or over 70. Notably, the scheme will cover both EU citizens, who up until now have been eligible to visit the UK without obtaining prior permission, as well as other nationalities.
UK Visa-Free Nationalities Remain So Until ETA Comes into Force
Importantly, however, until the ETA comes into force, EU nationals can continue to enter the UK without obtaining prior travel permission. Under the terms of the Brexit agreement, European citizens can visit for up to 90 days in a 180-day period, while Brits hopping the channel can enjoy reciprocal privileges. The introduction of the ETA, though, will bring an end to this.
What’s more, the citizens of other countries who’re currently eligible to enter the UK without acquiring an entry pass might be required to apply for the ETA too. At the time of writing, these visa-free eligible nationalities are:
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, East Timor, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius,Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vatican City
ETA May Be Different From a Traditional Visa, as a Waiver
In addition, it’s useful to distinguish the UK’s upcoming ETA from a traditional visa. If the UK takes the route of the ESTA and the ETIAS, then this will be a visa waiver, with significantly simpler application requirements and a lower cost.
For example, in the United States, non-ESTA eligible nationalities must apply for a B1/B2 visa, which involves filling in lengthy online forms, visiting a US embassy for an interview, and paying a higher fee. Meanwhile, in the EU, non-ETIAS eligible countries must apply for a Schengen Visa to enter the Schengen Zone, a similarly cumbersome bureaucratic process for applicants.
UK ETA Application Likely to Be Online, Quick and Easy
Fortunately, if the UK’s digital travel pass follows the form of the US ESTA and EU ETIAS, both applying for and acquiring your entry permission should be relatively straightforward. For example, in the case of the ESTA, eligible nationalities require just:
- A valid passport.
- An email address where you’ll receive your ESTA.
- To enter your personal and passport details into the online form.
Meanwhile, the ESTA permits visits of up to 90 days each and is valid for 2 years from the date of issue. Meanwhile, the ETIAS allows trips of up to 90 days per 180-day period and remains valid for 3 years. In both cases, approval is virtually instantaneous in most cases. So it’s yet to be determined how long the UK ETA will last, and take to process.
UK Introducing ETA to Better Track Visitor Entrances and Exits
The UK is purportedly introducing its ETA to better monitor the numbers of people entering and exit the country, similar to other digital visa schemes worldwide.
According to Home Secretary Ms. Patel, “We will have greater accuracy on numbers, we will be able to count in and count out who is in our country. We will not have to work around the hypotheticals around net migration targets or numbers or things of that nature, and even speculate whether numbers will go up or down.”
“Our new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and count people out of the country. We will have a far clearer picture of who is here, and whether they should be, and we will act if they are not,” added Ms. Patel.
UK Has Been Considering the ETA Since After the Brexit Vote
Britain’s government has been mulling introducing its own electronic visa (eVisa) system since shortly after the vote in favour of Brexit, in June 2016.
The ETA proposal was first published in a so-called white paper (civil service planning document) in December 2018, and the ruling Conservative Party restated its intention to launch an ETA in its campaign pledges for the December 2019 general election, as well as most recently in July 2020.
Britain Already Offers an Online Visa for Many GCC States
Notably, the UK already offers an Electronic Visa Waiver (EVW) to citizens of some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, namely Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
This EVW permits travellers to visit for up to six months for tourism, business, study or medical treatment, and costs 30 GBP each. It’s likely that the new ETA will take a somewhat different form, similar to the US ESTA or the EU ETIAS as mentioned, yet the EVW shows that the UK already has experience in implementing similar projects.
So to conclude, the upcoming UK ETA is something to be aware of as you plan your future trips to the UK. Clearly, important details such as the digital visa’s application process, visit period, validity length and cost are still to be announced. What’s more, UK visa-free nationalities will be able to enjoy this privilege for some time to come, as the ETA is forecast to go online only in 2025. So that’s plenty of time to get used to this upcoming regulatory change.
Stay tuned for further information about the UK’s digital visa waiver as it becomes available, and learn more about the UK ETA at Byevisa.com!
